In one week from now….

….. I will be flying in a plane to Africa.

This time next week, I will be around the world.  I am still scratching my head at how quickly this happened.  One night, seven months ago, I am talking with my partner at work at 2am about going to Africa, and here I am tonight, finalizing my packing list after hugging my kids just a little bit longer tonight than usual when I tucked them in.

I keep wondering if my expectations will be congruent with my reality.

Will it be hot and dry and dusty?

Will it be lonely yet overwhelmingly crowded at the same time?

Will I be regularly thinking about hand hygiene, transmittable diseases, and antibiotics in my “Just in case” bag?

Will I feel like a giant in both height and girth?  Or will I feel finally like I am amongst other taller people and can now understand the struggles of the vertically challenged?

What will it be like to absolutely and without question, experience being the minority?

How will I feel about their customs vs ours?  Will they be that different?

Will I come back skinnier than when I left?  Either due to diet, extra walking or di-poopus-of-the-blow-hole?

Will I have packed everything that I end up needing?  Or will I be MacGyver-ing things because I missed something important?  Or will I have totally over packed and hauled ten or twenty extra needless pounds around the world?

Will I finally find a coffee that I enjoy?

Will I be overwhelmed due to sadness or fear or incongruent life values during the trip?  If so, how often?

Will I have a more intense appreciation for my life and all of the things I treasure?  Or will I find it irritating what people take for granted and what people here waste, that have other people dying for not having?

Will I make a noticeable, tangible, measureable difference, that will make all of this worth going for?

Will it be as life changing as everyone seems to think it will be?

Will people tire of hearing the stories or will I tire of telling them?

What will my kids and husband and family and friends notice to be different about me when I get back?  What will I see differently in them?

I hope to be regularly able to post so you can come with me on this trip daily.  If not, I will amass the collection of thoughts I type out until I am able to mass post.  Worst case, it will get done upon my return, though that is not my vision.

Be well.