Uh, it's official?

This isn't going to sink in for quite some time -- maybe three years from now I'll wake up and be all, "What the hell just happened?" But for now, I'm trying to wrap my brain around the phone call on Friday: we are now Peace Corps invitees. after 18 months of applying/stressing, we're actually leaving in August for the Philippines.

Because I process things best when I work from lists, I'm starting with the very concrete - how about a packing list? That'll keep me busy for awhile. In a few weeks I'm planning on taking a much needed spiritual retreat - to reset and welcome in the new. to meditate, prepare, give thanks, and whatever else comes along.

Until then, though, let's start with what I do best. I don't want to fall into the common PC trainee trap of preparing for a two-year hiking trip with all the high tech gear (this is definitely Brandon's natural tendency - as in, would YOU spend $80 on a tricked-out headlamp when you're moving to a country that's pretty much completely electrified?...), although I know no matter what I do, we'll still be the uber-rich whities lugging around all the stuff.

To curb this tendency, I'm going to make a list, for the next seven days, of all the things I use. After all, PC volunteers are supposed to live at the level of the communities in which we serve? In reality, this won't happen - we'll have the ability to jet off on vacay every few months to bask in the air conditioning just like the rest - but at least I can be mindful of the things I really need day to day.

This will be a fun experiment - feels like a homework assignment from middle school or something... My hypothesis: "We use a small amount of items day to day; most items I would want to drag along are completely unnecessary."