A Tear-Filled River

Here I am at 2am trying to type as quietly as possible so I don't wake my roommate.  Tomorrow is orientation and I'm in Philadelphia at the Crown Plaza sitting in my bed trying to keep myself from doing what I've been doing all day--crying!  I'm still happy and excited, I just have never been away from home all alone and the thought brings tears to my eyes.  It's hard to leave those who you love behind while you embark on a new journey.  To put the way I'm feeling into perspective for anyone who can't relate, this feels something like breaking up with a long-term boyfriend--except worse.  It's my family I left; and although I'll be back in just two short years, the time I've spent away today already feels like an eternity.

Minus the river we cried at the house, on the way to the airport, and at the airport, we shared a few rather funny moments before it was time for me to board the plane.  I'll start by saying that I finished packing today at 12:30 pm...this probably doesn't sound like much of a problem until I tell you that my flight was leaving at 2:50 PM!  So, here is the series of events:

1. I woke up to repack at about 9am; I was waaaay over weight so I had to remove about half of the necessities I bought for the trip and take out several outfits and other necessary, but unnecessary items I had packed
2. I finished packing while my mom went to the post office to pickup a roll of forever stamps that I just happened to remember at the last minute, when she returned we loaded up the cars and everyone (me, sister, mom, stepdad, Demetrious, Auntie Nita) piled in
3. We stopped by the bank to grab some cash for the trip
4. We drove about 35 minutes to get to the airport and had to detour and passed my terminal and had to circle around the entire airport
5. Seeing how we were beginning to run short on time, the ladies hopped out of the car with my luggage so that we could check my bags while the guys parked the car.  At this point I have two backpacks, a satchel/purse thingy, two over-weight suitcases, and a few items in hand that just wouldn't fit into any of the bags listed above.
6. Once inside the airport, we stopped to reorganize when one of the bag checker workers (unsure of their technical titles) chuckled a bit and offered to help us (I can only imagine how crazy we looked trying to repack all of those bags in the middle of the floor)
7. He calls us over, weighs my bags and each one came to 70 pounds each! SEVENTY! After we decided that we would just pay the extra for the excessive weight, he proceeded to tell us that we would be charged $200 per bag if we keep them as they were..so we proceeded to borrow (really steal) a black bin that was standing nearby so that I could empty out some of the things I really needed to take to Rwanda, but just did not have the space for.  I got rid of a few more outfits, more necessities, a pair of pajama bottoms that I should have kept, some undergarments, a little of this, and a little of that.  It took about 3+ trial and errors weigh ins for us to get each bag at exactly 50 pounds each.  *Whew* finally we did it!  But not before someone in our group (I wont name any names) made a love connection with the bag checker worker and they exchanged phone numbers.  We thanked the guy a million times for being such a big help and chuckled as we walked to the checkpoint at the fact that somebody decided to seize the opportunity to make a new single friend :) 
8. Lastly, once at the checkpoint, we take a couple final photos, cry some more, pray, and send me on my merry way.  My sis and Demetrious stood with me through the checkpoint line and we cried and laughed, and cried some more.  Once through, I waved goodbye one last time and cried my way to my terminal.

Talk about stress!  There was way too much going on in such a short time, but I made it out alive! 

Love and Peace Corps,
Dametreea