1 week from today!

Exactly 1 week from today (Sunday Feb. 6) I will say goodbye to friends and family to begin the best adventure of my life....my Peace Corps service.  Already I can see that my service will be filled with ups and downs.  Packing for me has been the hardest part so far..most would think it would be saying goodbye to all my close friends and family, but for some reason that hasn't been the hardest part yet.  My friends and family are so supportive that I know I will talk to them all and see them all (via skype) very soon.  But packing..that's a whole different animal.  I go through my luggage every other day worried that I forgot something, worried that I have too much of something, worried that something I packed is unnecessary, worried that I didn't pack something that is completely necessary.  We are told to bring only what we really need....well I look around my room and I need everything.  I think up every scenario and situation and I need to be prepared for it..so 12  pairs of shoes doesn't seem so outrageous when 1 day it could be rainy and later that same day it can be hot and sunny.  But, with help from friends and my parents AND other Guy 23ers, I have narrowed down the shoe list and have somehow managed to get my luggage UNDER the weight limit!  I think I am pretty simple person who lives with only what I need in terms of how some Americans live, but when it comes down to it I'm just like every other American.  We think we "need" so much...If I think about what I use in 1 day it blows my mind.  1 thing I am going to try so hard to accomplish, aside from making a difference, is to live more simply and with less "stuff".  I want to be without the luxuries that we have come so easily to expect.... electricity, running water, washing machines, etc....and see if I am as capable to take care of myself as well as others as I think I am. 

Now that the packing issue has been somewhat settled I can move on to the more important issues....saying goodbye! Yikes! I think I am in denial. I said goodbye to nearly all of my closest friends today without 1 tear shed.  My brain can not comprehend that I leave in 1 week for something I have been waiting well over a year for.  I am happy to sacrifice the time with friends and family in order to serve others and I think that is what is in the forefront of my mind and keeping me from feeling the sadness that I feel like I should be experiencing.  But that being said, I will miss everyone especially after Melisa's birthday party last night. I don't know where I am going to find people like that ever..but I know one thing is certain: My life is going to change, like, the good kind of change. And in that process I am going to change other lives,and hopefully I can inspire those people to help change other peoples lives and it will be s ripple effect of change. I am happy to have the support at home that I need to create this change and I am so excited to start my service.