About to board the Plane

This is my blog right before I get on the plane and actually do it. It still seems surreal even though I am in Philly, at the staging, meeting all the people I will become close to over the next two years. I do have to admit it is starting to sink in. "Okay," I keep thinking "this is it; the adventure has begun." Having actually talked to people who are in the same boat as I am has made it feel more real but I still haven't cried; so I know that it hasn't hit me. Or perhaps it has just been the build up.

I feel like I have been saying goodbye for the last month; thinking about it now I realized that I have actually been saying goodbye for the last month. First to my friends, my paramour, then to my girls, my extended family, to my sister, and finally to my immediate family. The thing is it has never felt real. Partly because I actually wasn't leaving yet, and that I could very easily have seen any of these people again, or talked to them on the phone. The goodbyes have never really been goodbyes as much as see you laters...maybe.

Now I have seen everyone for the last time before my service. And every conversation could be the last for a while. The contact will get thin from this point on. I question how many people will actually write to me. Having tried to keep pen pals before I know what a commitment it is and how life has a habit of getting in the way. The loneliness is already starting to become a reality. Suddenly I am getting what the books and brochures have been telling me. Everything is new, I will crave familiarity. I think it is finally hitting me.

Love you all. Please write often, even if you think it is mundane. I want to hear what you are doing with your time. Will post when I can.