My World Race journey officially began in my car. I was driving home to Indiana from Tampa, Florida in December for three weeks of Christmas break. 16 hours without any company, unless you count my dog who was puking in the backseat of my car, which I don’t. It was an incredibly long drive. I attempted to listen to a book on tape but with the narrator’s monotonous voice I quickly zoned out. Music it was. There I was, rocking out with the music blaring, singing as loud as I could, dancing, playing the steering wheel drums, and whatever else it took to entertain myself. I had to put my one man band concert on hold when my phone started ringing. I had no idea who it was since it was just some random number. I answered and I immediately recognized the voice of the girl that interviewed me. I had to submit an online application and then have a one hour phone interview. Then I waited and waited. It took a couple of weeks to finally get that phone call, the one I had been anxiously awaiting. When I answered, the first thing she said was, “Congratulations!!! You’re going on the Race!!” I was beyond excited. Suddenly my long drive home wasn’t so boring. The one man band cut the concert short much to the disappointment of the surrounding cars that were my audience. Instead, I began planning and thinking and wondering what the next step would be and where this journey would take me from there.
That was 7 months ago. It is now the day before training camp. Looking back it doesn’t seem like that phone call was that long ago. I have come so far since that day. I have most of my gear (I only need little things that I will pick up here and there in the weeks before I launch), I am over 50% funded, I have learned the names of the people that I will be traveling with, I have gotten almost all of my vaccinations I need, and I have finished two semesters in grad school (which means I am DONE! I just finished all of my coursework for my class and my last day at my final externship was yesterday! Hello graduation!). Tomorrow is the first day of many over the next year that I will put on my backpack, grab my daypack, and board an airplane. This one will take me to Georgia for one week. For 7 months I have been waiting for this. And here it is.
I have been reading a lot of blogs and tips about preparing for training camp and the World Race. Basically I have come to one conclusion. You can’t. As much as you think you are prepared, you aren’t. Or so I’ve gathered. I’ll find out this week if that’s true. Everything I have read says the same thing- let go of any and all expectations. Honestly, I don’t really have any expectations for training camp. I have no idea what it’s going to be like. All I know is that this will be one week I will never forget.
People have asked me over the last few days if I’m nervous. The answer is yes but only a little. The amount of excitement I have doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for nerves. Between seeing the short videos giving a sneak peek into training camp (check out the one at the bottom of the page) and glimpses at life on the Race, how could I not be excited?? If I ever start to doubt that I should be doing this, if I start to think it would be easier to just stay in my comfort zone at home and travel on my own time in my own way, I just have to watch a 90 second video and all that doubt goes away. I cannot wait to get to training camp and learn more about what exactly I’ve gotten myself into.
I think back on that phone call 7 months ago. Faith in Him includes faith in His timing. His timing is perfect. It seems so fitting that at the moment I got the call I was traveling. At that time I was traveling across the country alone in my car. It was official. I was in. I am in. At that moment I began the process of preparing to travel across the world with strangers that will become family.
Tomorrow I meet those strangers. Tomorrow I meet that family.
http://player.vimeo.com/video/71842759 <—– Training Camp Video!!
