It is only after I sit down to write this, that I realize the significance of today’s date. On January 30th, three years ago, I was about to embark on one of the most incredibly challenging and humbling, yet rewarding and philanthropic journeys of this young adult’s life. I had joined the US Peace Corps, and my moment to depart from everything familiar (family, foods and even fun), had arrived. Exactly three years ago, today, I was taking the proverbial flight into the unknown, first stop: Washington DC, to begin the first round of 27 months of integration preparation, known as Staging.
Now, three years later, I’ve been a returned Peace Corps volunteer for nine full months. I suppose it seems like it’s been that long. I mean, I’ve witnessed more changing seasons living back in Oklahoma, in six months than I experienced in the two years I lived in The Gambia, a small West African coastal country. If I peer out the window at this exact moment, bowing tree limbs, magnified by the three inches of coated ice and a blanket of blinding white, which envelops this typically rusted red dirt state, are all staring back at me.
But this segment is not meant to recount lack of seasons or saying goodbyes. There is a whole other entertaining online journal, dedicated to two years worth of that stuff. However, I wouldn’t be giving credit where it were deserved if I didn’t admit that putting those experiences to paper (and receiving positive acclamations) unveiled this desire to continue doing so. And when one day recently, out of the forgotten blue, I learn Chicken Soup for the Soul: Runners, is highly considering using one of my stories, I am somehow reassured that perhaps my mother isn’t the only one who might enjoy perusing the thoughts of an ordinary girl on a public forum. Of course, all of that is secondary to the fact that I really enjoy writing, which I now recognize is a therapeutic outlet, that has impacted my life and perhaps these random words may yours, as well.
So I suppose a little catch up is in store. First of all, I had a baby. Completely joking. It’s just that with the amount of time that has passed, I totally could have! I did, however, accrue a mortgage, an incredibly rewarding job and enough bills to compensate for it, purchased my very first car, moved back in with my dog, made some new solid friends, reunited with some old ones and maintained contact with the valuable ones.
There will definitely be more random stories and life pursuits to come, but for now, I’ll just say: It’s good to be back, Boy-Boy.
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