Tuesday, June 26, 2007

quality time


our time with friends and family is short, but it's definitely been Quality.

we've gathered for dinner with friends on several occasions. we've gone rollerskating at Tarwheels and dancing at Broadways for 80's night. we enjoyed a random traveling gypsy "circus" in the River District as well as this summer's first Friday after Five in Asheville. we've hosted a women's clothes swap/potluck, a wine club, a bon voyage party/grill-out, and a full house sleepover (9 guests passing through + 4 of us housemates)... just to name a few things.

most importantly, however, this week we're spending some good Quality time with family. my parents just rolled in town from CT for their summer in NC, and my brother, sister-in-law and 2 1/2 y.o. niece are spending as much time as they can with us, too... oh how i'll miss them all.

in the meantime, we're still trying to check off our lists and get everything done, but we're gettin' there... if we forget anything, oh well. i know we'll survive... it'll be nice to finally get going though. i'm starting to get excited now.

Friday, June 22, 2007

sure, it'll be amazing, but...

i've been mulling over this for a long time... i don't have an answer, yet, but i figured that it'd be good to post this as a testimony of how deeply i'm thinking about this trip and how challenging i know it will be.

here's the big question: what are we doing, what are we saying and who are we to go on this big long trip around the world? we are 2 young, white, middle class, American women who are privileged enough to take off and take advantage of our mobility, our freedom and our heritage to come & go through people's lives and to deepen those already well-worn tourist paths, etc... how dare we. it seems so oppressive. i feel so ashamed... in fact, this has been the source of a lot of my anxiety and doubt about the trip.

however, despite all this mental, emotional and spiritual turmoil around the trip, God has opened doors and made incredible connections for us already, so at least i've been able to find a certain peace about everything. plus, there's no sense in shying away from the opportunity we have to see the world, to do good will, to spread compassion, to share the love and to be ambassadors of the life!

questioning the purpose our trip is like questioning the purpose of life--it's rather difficult until it's experienced. plus, with all the negative things going on everywhere, there's no point in being overly cynical... and who better to pass through the world than a pair of compassionate women like us. in fact, a really great friend of ours recently told us that because of who we are there's no doubt that we would do good and make great ambassadors everywhere we go.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

inspiration on the fridge

i don't know the story behind it, but i just noticed this new little magnet on our fridge and thought i'd share it with the world... supposedly it's an "apache blessing."

may the sun
bring you new energy by day,
may the moon
softly restore you by night,
may the rain
wash away your worries,
may the breeze
blow new strength into your being.
may you walk
gently through the world and know
its beauty all the days of your life.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

booking our trip

i've been home about 2.5 weeks now, and we've only got 3 weeks to go. i'm still working out all the details around our trip, but at least i finally lined up our RTW tickets (through United and the Star Alliance). now, i've got to concentrate on lining up our Insurance (travel & health).

it's been slow to get everything together and going, because i had mixed emotions about the timing of this trip and whatnot... but now i'm feeling a lot better and more excited about things. however, i'm still not absolutely sure about how long i'll travel with heather. either i'll continue with her for a few more months into new zealand and australia, or i'll leave her in southern china and go back home, in which case i'd go to the SW pacific later... oh, decisions, decisions.

working on the floors

most of last week i spent time up at my brother's place in banner elk and helped him take out their carpet and replace it with this flooring... it was brutal on my hands and knees, but it looked so good by the end.