I promised I would keep in touch with people and here goes... This is my first post of many to come.
As I sit on flight 939 headed to Miami for staging, I wonder what the next two years will look like for me. I am exhausted from this last week of emotional twists and turns but unable to sleep as I continue to think about things I need to do or should have done. Every time I close my eyes, I yawn... pop my eyes back open, look around the cabin and out the window down on my home country and daydream about the experiences I am about to encounter. I got less than an hour of sleep last night as I said my final farewells to a special someone, cried as I dropped my dog off with Shannon this morning and paced at the airport waiting to board. I had a nice send off at the airport with a few of my closest friends... Well, all the ones that were silly enough to get up at 5am and come to the airport just to say good bye. (THANKS GUYS) The last week has been a nice way to leave Phoenix, with lots of hugs, tears, gifts, smiles and photos.
So... now...
I'm listening to Power to the People by John Lennon, smelling the fumes of the interesting man's cocktail sitting next to me. Somehow, I ended up being assigned the worst seat on the plane. Which for those who don't know happens to be right in front of the emergency exit row. The seats do not recline. They do, however, have a nice sticker that says "FAA regulations require restricted recline of your seat back to keep from blocking emergency exit behind you."
I happened to run into a fellow trainee who is headed to Miami on the same flight as me. Randomly, he happened to sit next to me and I happened to be nosey and look at his name on his boarding pass. It was familiar from our facebook group online. Uncle David is his nickname. The fun begins. He brought a Ukulele and a printer. Hmmm... I'm not nearly as cool as that. I look forward to getting to know him and the other 29 crazy folks headed on this journey with me.
To conclude (mainly so I can close my eyes and try and get a wink of sleep before this sky bus lands), I will steal a line from another conversation I had over text with another volunteer. "I am done saying good bye and looking forward to lots of hellos."
Good Bye Phoenix and the United States... Hello Jamaica. (Well Miami until Wednesday... then JAMAICA)
