Not Nervous, Just Ready

As the holiday weekend reaches a close, I reflect upon the past few days. A weekend of countless conversations with my extended family that hasn't seen me since my PC nomination, and also many with wizened, doting parishioners from my grandparents' church who prayed a blessing over me for safe travels. All asked me in hushed voices how nervous I was about my departure.

My response, invariably, was a shrug and an "I'm really not at all."

They would then purse their lips and say, "Hm, okay" in a pacifying voice that clearly indicated that they knew how I was feeling better than I did.

I let them do what they needed to.

Truth was, I really wasn't nervous. My intense personality paired with an eerie calm that came with the territory of knowing that Salone was where I was supposed to be at this point in my life gave me a serenity that most people probably mistook for gas.

If they had known what was going through my mind, maybe they would have let me be. What occupied my thoughts more than anything else lately was the kind of people with whom I would be serving. Constantly, they were running through my mind.

Since the invention of the Internet, the imagination has had a whole lot of help. If I had been serving 15 years ago, I would have nothing but the wilderness of my mind to concoct these future friends from. Now we have Facebook and with that come the story of their lives. At least the lives they choose to share with cyberspace.

I'm so ready to meet these people.

What are their real stories, not just Facebook stories? How did they get to this junction? How are their parents coping with them leaving? Were they like my dad, who just shoved me on my way like he knew he'd always have to? Or were they like my mom, a control freak that was steadily losing control over me and was stretching it to any area she could (medical forms, packing lists, my going away party)

Who's going to be best friends? Who's going to break curfew every night? Who's going to fall in love? Who is going to wish me dead every second of the day because I never just shut the hell up? Who's going to be seriously injured on a hike, rendering them the spectator all through training? Who's the Hermione? Whose wedding will we all be reuniting at after we return home? Who's the Quiet one? Are there going to be cliques? Are we too cool for that? 

All I can think about is getting to know these people. My people. More than ever before, I look forward to a goodbye because I know that hellos are soon to follow.

So, to my future friends, I promise I'm not insane. Just mega-pumped to meet you all. This is the adventure of a lifetime.

 And we're going together.

"Be true to your work, your word, and your friend."

- Henry David Thoreau