One Week From Now

One week from now I'll be in the air flying off to Africa to begin this Watson year (more realistically I'll be at one of my three layover locations before I get to Cape Town). I'm excited, nervous, and happy to finally be on my way. Of course, I have been having a great time this summer with family and friends, hiking in Zion, bike racing in Idaho, and living it up at my sister's wedding. Seeing my sister publicly proclaim her love and desire to spend her life with her (now) husband in some ways makes me think that this whole adventure is just a year, and not too big a deal. They pledged their whole lives, I'm just roaming around for a year. Either way we're both in for some fun. That said, my sister and her husband give me confidence.

One of the most amazing things, in my opinion, about my upcoming year is that I am not sure what to expect. I expect challenge, fatigue, excitement, confusion, moments of amazement and joy, but those are just vague notions at this point. That will be the incredible part: putting experiences, tangible events, moments and people to those notions and expectations.

So at least I have some confidence and a few expectations, because I don't yet have traveler's checks ... I'll get that done tomorrow ... along with the last rabies shot, photocopies of various documents, and who knows what else will creep onto my list. I can't wait to cross that threshold from concourse to airplane cabin.