PREPARING TO GO!

It is absolutely amazing how time can just fly by. One would think that given nearly 5 months, this should be enough time to wrap up a job, move an apartment into storage, plan and shop for needs of a year long trip.....no such thing. I feel like I am in the process of preparing for a climbing expedition.  (Today, it feels like Mount Everest)

I did manage a couple outdoor goodbyes such as a last mountain bike ride with Papa Gundy (the Hood River legend) as well as one last road bike ride on Whidbey Island. The bikes are now in hibernation waiting my return. SOO SAD.

Falls Creek 

I leave parts of me scattered all over the Northwest. My dear friend Tricia (who accompanied me to Afghanistan on the last medical journey) has been a savior in allowing me to store 1/4 of my apartment in her basement last minute. I was never good at visual spacial processing and as a result, did not anticipate that my all my things would NOT fit in the car for the final storage. Robin is holding onto another portion of "stuff" as hostage until my return.

It was a curious experience of anxiety, sleep deprivation and what I can only explain as disassociation. Somehow through the grounding effects of  the waters of the Puget Sound from Mike and Liz's Island retreat and a real Korean Scrub with friend Teresa, I have managed to plant my feet firmly on Terra Mater.

I flew out of Sea Tac airport on 9/1/12 to begin my journey Eastward. It has been NON STOP since arriving: copies of important paperwork, shopping for rehab items for the kids and shipping them ahead to my Newark stop, having the Apple computer guys do a "wipe and reset", logistical planning of how much to bring, how to get it to Newark then Africa, visiting family, meeting new contacts for Uganda, getting final bills paid and squared away, etc etc.

Though every moment has been accounted for, there have been amazing blessings throughout! More to follow.....