Winding Down

It's about 10 AM, and I'm 12 hours away from takeoff. I woke up this morning feeling more nervous than I have in all the weeks of preparation for Ghana. I half wish I could get on the plane right now just to get out of this purgatory of not being able to function as if it were another normal day but not being able to leave yet either. The other half of me wants to stay.

I think the most common question I have been asked these past few weeks is whether I'm excited about going to Ghana. I am excited, but getting excited is the easy part. These last few weeks before my departure have been marked by well-wishes, being taken out to dinner (by mostly poor college students, no less), and even a parting gift or two from family and friends, but this has made saying goodbye all the more difficult. Or rather, I have made saying goodbye all the more difficult. 

It appears I am doomed to forever forget and re-learn this fundamental truth: you never truly appreciate what you have until you lose it. Losing my family and friends, if only for three and a half months, has only truly begun to sink in these last few days as Ghana ceases to be an abstraction and has turned instead into an imminent departure. In 12 hours the goodbyes will be over. I leave at 9:45 tonight and arrive at 8:25 PM tomorrow Ghana time. Until then, purgatory.