You know those rare nights when you can cozy up on the couch by the fire, put in a good movie, munch on some popcorn, and let the world fade away as you completely zone out and relax at the end of a long week?
This is not one of those nights.
In fact, I have been staying up late most nights, relentlessly scouring the world wide web for updates and information about the situation in Japan. Making last minute preparations, my mind has been utterly consumed with swarms of invisible sticky notes being written, then erased, then rewritten. Someone posts the sticky in my brain, then it gets moved to another spot. Later, the sticky loses it's sticky-ness and falls off my brainwall, floating harmlessly to the ground where I step on in a few times before picking it up. I finally realize its importance and post it back up on the wall, only to find myself juggling 99 other stickies that are starting to lose their fortitude.
The stickies are like my thoughts that should have a time limit. For example, the thought of "packing" should have an expiration date of today....but I have to recycle that slip of paper and reuse it for a few more weeks.
"Goodbyes" has been a bright orange sticky, ridden with sad faces and last-minute lunch dates. You can imagine this is not a note I want to see too often, but as soon as I think I can take it down I reach for the scotch tape and post it back on the edge of my computer screen.
Packing things for long-term storage finally wrapped-up today (pun intended) when I shoved the last box onto two-by-fours spanning the trusses above the house. Nestled in a space cleared of insulation, my belongings begin a period of hibernation yet to be determined. Still scattered about my room are piles of winter clothes, summer clothes, shoes, and everything I ABSOLUTELY need to bring to Japan. Of course I anticipate that some items will not make the 70lb cut-off...
Between not knowing what to pack, when to pack, where to pack it, and where to go, where to stay, and who to say goodbye to, my emotional state of being is in need of some comfort.
As of right now, the plan is to fly to Ohio Sunday morning and stay for training and orientation for about a week. The end. We don't know when we can fly to Japan, but we will have to depart from Ohio as a group
After that, I have a few options, some more risky than others.
1. Return to Washington and stay here...waiting...
2. Return to Oregon and stay there, waiting, but perhaps working a little and staying involved with friends, church, etc. This option requires the return of bills!
3. Do something completely different. Fly from Ohio to Virginia to stay with family, keeping busy working for my aunt and visiting with my grandpa. A favorable option, however, requires me to haul my luggage across the country and leave it in Ohio until....???
4. Forget the whole thing and just to back to Oregon!!!
5. Take the job interpreting in Indonesia that will start in August.
Well, options 4 and 5 seem a little extreme right now so let's put those on hold.
Options 1 and 2 both involve more goodbyes which I'm trying to avoid.
Option 3 offers a good adventure, keeping busy, and hanging out with my aunt and Pops (two of my favorite people). The risk would be if my departure to Japan is delayed, say, several months...then I'd probably call it quits and have to get to Ohio to pick up my luggage and pay to have it flown all the way back to the West Coast.
Looks like I'm in favor of Option 3...we'll see if it works out. In the meantime, I'm going to try and sleep, finish packing tomorrow, and pray for guidance, wisdom, and peace.
Oh and go running, of course.
RSS Feed