goodbye

Well, the day has finally come...August 22nd, the day I take off for my round the world trip! It's been really hard this last week saying goodbyes, especially to my friends' kids. Admittedly, I got rather choked up when I said goodbye to Josh and Missy's kids last night and Ryan and Lori's kids this afternoon. They hold such a special place in my heart. It's hard enough to say goodbye to my friends, but my friends' kids have really worked their way into my heart in a big way. I don't know what it is about kids, but I envy them. They are so happy and care-free it seems like. Saying this, I realize from seeing it many times firsthand, that kids aren't always care-free as they can shed a lot of tears sometimes. During the times when they're happy, though, you can't wipe the smile off their little faces. It seems like I've lost that to a degree. The ability to truly live in the moment and soak in all that life is giving you right then, right there. More often then not, my mind is distracted with other things while I'm physically present somewhere else. With kids however, their whole being is thrown into the moment they find themselves, they simply don't know any different. It's a fascinating thing to watch, really, to see them live in the moment with reckless abandonment. I'm thankful that their parents are able to provide a safe and loving environment for them to become the person God created them to be. It's been an honor to watch my friends' kids grow up, and I look forward to getting back to that when I return.

Well, I've managed to pack my life for the next 8 months into a carry-on backpack and a little backpack, which I'm going to refer to as my small personal item if they ask me about it. That's crazy when I think about it, everything I need is in a backpack, and my electronic goods in the smaller backpack. I pack pretty light as it is, but this is pretty impressive even for me :) This backpack will be my life for 8 months, wow, interesting, isn't it? How many of you could pack your life into a carry-on backpack and a small personal item? Of course, as many of you already know, I'm not the most normal person to begin with, so maybe this just fits that idea. This backpack will see a lot of couches on this trip, as I'm going to try and couchsurf most of the time I'm overseas.

My trip will cover 6 continents if you count my starting point and ending point as North America. Well, gotta go, my plane's leaving...I better not be late for this trip!