The Last Supper(s)

I have 1 more day here in Texas with my wonderful family and then I'm off to California to spend a few days with girlfriends before Peace Corps"staging". I spent my last couple weeks in DC stuffed to the gills. Even in an "eat out" kind of city, I think I had more dinners out in those last 2 weeks than I normally have in 2 months. You don't realize just how many people there are to say goodbye to until you actually have to do it. To be honest, the whole process was making me feel a little down. Of course I'm still very excited about leaving for such a great adventure, but sad, too. I absolutely loved living in DC and I absolutely adore my friends. I mean really, how are the "Bobs" going to survive without me? (Answer: just fine, I'm sure). Then there's SP, he's a whole other blog post entirely...

And now it's down to my last day with my family. SP was here with me the first few days and it was such great fun, but he had to go back to DC and so my last week here was spent in "business mode". Lists to work through, things to buy, stuff to organize, laundry, sorting, tossing, packing, re-packing. It still doesn't feel very real - it's somehow hard to completely "get" that I'm not coming back anytime soon. Excitement, sadness, anxiety, all rolled into one bundle of crazy - that's the only way to describe my emotions right now.

I think I should've bought a bigger backpack.

(edited to add that I started this post way back on July 21, but it's actually now August 9)

Lucky Charms

I have, without a doubt, the best friends on the planet.

This past Saturday night Chez DeM. hosted a celebration of good friends, good food and good times, not to mention good margaritas. It was both a reunion (with out-of-town friends who could not have timed their visits more perfectly) and a farewell (for me)...and it was wonderful. Besides some of the best grilling this side of the Mississippi, dodge-bocce ball and buckets of "whimsies", I was presented with the best goodbye gift a girl could ask for - baubles! My funny, fantastic friends had made me the most beautiful charm bracelet and they had each contributed a charm that in some way represented our friendship. I've been wearing it nonstop since and can't keep from fingering it and smiling at the memories it brings. It will be one of the most priceless things I'll be taking with me to the Philippines (next to my passport, of course). Words, none that I write anyway, cannot express how much all these people mean to me and how much I will miss them.

Teardrops and tiki huts and toucans and celery seeds and messages in a bottle and courageous cats and prayer scrolls and margarita glasses and buffaloes and evil eyes and hands of Fatima and words of wisdom and horseshoe crabs and.....Elvis.

If this thing doesn't keep me safe and bring me luck, nothing will.

Staging!

My staging packet arrived in the mail yesterday. It consists of information on when and where to report (Los Angeles) plus yet more paperwork to fill out before actually getting on the flight to Manila (on Hawaiian Airlines no less).

Uh. My. Gah.

It's starting to feel very, very, very real.