18/7

Christmas has come and gone, and New Years is just around the corner! My, how the time is flying by sooo fast! I had every intention of posting right before Christmas, or on the day of...but, time did escape me yet again, and I some how found myself too busy to sit at my computer for a few minutes. Weird, I know. But, to my credit, I also spent the Christmas holiday working, so maybe not so weird afterall. Regardless, to all of you - here's a belated Mele Kalikimaka.

As I write this, I am sitting at the Calgary International Aiport, waiting for my plane to take me to San Francisco, where I will be spending New Years with my little sister and some of my closest friends from Hawai'i (who now live in California). I am very excited to see some "family" before I head off to Africa. I have seen some friends who are just like family in the last few days for what will be the last time before I depart. It's still a little surreal saying goodbye (although, I like to say it's not goodbye, it's just "until I see you again".). I think it's because, even though my days are numbered and time is flying by...I still have time before I leave.

I realize now, that the next time I depart from this airport, I will be leaving the country for what looks like 8 months at this time. It's still hard to believe that I will be gone for so long, and I don't think that I will grasp the immensity of that time away until departing is something that I am no longer looking forward to. Some of my friends still speculate at the length of my trip. I guess it's harder from them to comprehend not seeing me for 8 months, especially since it hasn't been done with a most of them. At times, 8 months doesn't seem so long, and at times it does. I think that I am better able to cope with being gone for so long, because I have been waiting in anticipation for this to happen for over a year now. Not only that, but, I have now been living in Calgary for a year - and even though lots has gone on, that year still seems to have passed by pretty fast. I am sure that in a few months time, I will be speculating at where my 6 months on the Mercy Ships have gone, as I set out to visit friends and explore some of the continent of Africa.

So wherever you are this holiday season, and whatever you were doing...I hope that you were surrounded by friends and family, any of those that you would consider loved ones...or at least in touch with them, to realize that you are loved and blessed. Here's hoping that this next year, 2010, is full of wonder and adventure for you, too!

"Friends come and friends go,
but a true friend sticks by you like family."
- Proverbs 18:24 (MSG)