The In-Between, one could say

I'm in between life right now, I guess I could say.

I left DC last Thursday early afternoon after filling the Taurus to the brim and Dad drove us straight through...13 hours and only 3 stops! It was much, much harder leaving DC than I had anticipated. Five or six months ago, when I was originally anticipating leaving DC for a November departure (oh, never hearing about my nomination...), I was SO ready to leave. I wanted to get away from my jobs, the city, and the people as well, and was crushed hearing that I wasn't actually leaving until March...it was SO far away. In that time, however, I came to be happy in both jobs, remembered why I liked the city, and developed new friendships with great people, making leaving all the more difficult. Driving away, from P&P, the GB, and then AU, knowing I won't be back, even to visit, for quite some time was just bizarre. And yes, there were tears though I know I'll be back.

Now that I'm back in IL, I'm at an in-between in life. I no longer have DC as my home and while Senegal soon will be home, it's not yet. The college and post-college DC chapter in my life has come to an end, but the PC chapter hasn't quite started either (unless you count submitting my application a year ago when it really started...). However, now that I'm back in CL, my life can be focused on PC prep and things without having the distraction of long work weeks, as much as I may miss my jobs. I guess I'm technically visiting CL because I'm only here for just over a week, but I'm unpacking many of my belongings to find places for them for a few years. Several different strangers asked me today if I live in the area or just visiting and while I went into the "live in DC, from here, joining PC and moving to Africa" with some of them, many others I just nodded my head and said "yep" or "something like that..." I told the dental hygienist today that I'm somewhat nomadic right now, though it's weird to think that by the end of PC 2.25 years down the road, I'll have lived in my house/hut/room at site for 2 years continuously (in theory), which is longer than anywhere I'll have lived since graduating hs several years ago (I guess I lived a somewhat though not really nomadic life in college). Does that make sense? Maybe not, but to me it does, so deal... :)

Anyway, though I'm still unpacking from DC, I've started the PC packing in the sense that I put the things I know I'm bringing that have been gathering in drawers and corners all in one spot (on my sister's bunk bed). That pile seems to be growing faster than things in my room are being put away... I also started the first few of many loads of laundry I need to do this week, which is a plus, but will take several days, probably. Tomorrow I'm hitting the mall and Target to by random travel things and toiletries that I know I need. The shopping list is quite long. I have a lot to do in order to prepare myself and the fact that my room is in such a state of disrepair is overwhelming me, but I trust things that need to get done will, or at least somewhat.
In less than a week I will be at Staging and my ticket for it arrived via email this morning. I can't believe how fast this is coming! It's so scary and exciting at the same time. Encouragement from friends and strangers alike though have definitely been amazing, so thank you. During this pre-departure chaos and anxiety, I need to frequently remind myself that I have amazing people in my life who support me and have confidence that I can do this job and also who remind me how much I want to do this, because it can be easy to forget and I know I will need to remind myself (or be reminded) when I'm actually over there.

Sorry this blog has a slightly depressing tone to it...I guess that's the mood of the night. As I said, most of these pre-departure blog entries are just me being nostalgic and nervous, but I know things will get both more difficult and more amazing the moment I step off that plane, so the blog entries will hopefully be a little more entertaining. :)