Long Days

TODAY IS THE DAY!!!* Can you believe it? It still feels surreal to me-to the point where I keep checking my ticket that I got the time right (literally just went and checked again…whew) and making sure I have my passport and it doesn’t expire for…wait let me check…yeah till 2026. Whew again. I’ve said my goodbyes, and all of them were bittersweet. Goodbyes are hard. Some harder than others though. I’ll list a few on the scale of “Take-it-or-leave-it-but-obviously-leave-because-I’m-leaving” to “WHY-DIDN’T-I-STAY-IN-AMERICA?”

I said goodbye to Good ole’ Chick Fil-a (but they didn’t have nuggets or waffle fries sooo they’re basically dead to me.)

I said goodbye to my hairdryer. (Not that hard, but still. My hair doesn’t dry itself!**)

I said goodbye to my favorite yellow cardigan. (because it had a several holes in it, and I won’t need 4 cardigans that close to the equator.)

I said goodbye to my younger brother…as I dropped him off for basketball practice that will last the entire day.

I said goodbye to my parents this morning…as they left to board a plane for Birmingham.

I said goodbye to my Grandfather yesterday. He was recently in the hospital. He just turned 98.

Crying yet? Me too.

But now after all my goodbyes, (hilariously) I am home alone, waiting for a few hours until my Uncle picks me up to take me to the airport where I will embark on a (roughly) 30 hour travel day to my new home overseas. Talk about time to overthink. I’ve thought about goodbyes and America and family and the Father and time, but I can’t think for too long on any of these subjects because it makes me sad in a weepy kind of way.

So to avoid feeling too weepy, I’ve been trying to prepare for the day ahead. Truthfully I’m a little anxious because today is going to be a very long day. The next few weeks are probably going to be full of very long days. Days that feel like weeks and not all in a bad way! But in a, “there’s a lot to learn and see and do” kind of way. I know, because I’ve had days like this before.

It makes me think about Memphis, where some days seemed far too short. And a lot of days felt unbearably long. There’s a note that I keep in my wallet from my friend Kelly. She worked in my school with me and saw me at some of my best and worst moments. She wrote a note (I think in 2016) near the beginning of the school year, knowing that I was struggling and I read it every now and then to remind myself of truth that I forget when I’m anxious.

The day is long, but the year is short. My mistakes that I made are in the past, and His mercy is new. All I have to do is be obedient and do my best. (That’s it? Are you sure? Yep. Check it.)

This day, and a few others, may be long, but I’d be foolish not to know that two years will fly by. And I have an enormous opportunity to see the world, to understand it better, and to be obedient, which is a far greater opportunity than any thing or event or even person that I will miss while I’m gone. That doesn’t take away my weepy feelings, but it does keep my feet moving in the right direction.

My next post will be in South East Asia! The real reason you wanted to read this blog and live vicariously through me! At last! Goodbye America!

See you soon!***

 

 

*Today meaning September 22, 2018

**My hair will dry itself, but it takes forever.

***Soon is relative and depends on where you live. If you’re in South East Asia I will in fact see you soon, if 30-ish hours is “soon”. If you are in America it will most likely be longer but still “soon” if you consider the earlier statement “two years can go by really fast”. Use phrase with caution in the future and be sure to quote me.