A year from now/a year ago

I already feel like we are hurtling toward our August 1 departure date, but today, in particular, I am feeling how quickly time flies by. A year ago, Jimmy and I were wrapping up snapping wedding photos on the beach, and getting ready to exchange vows in just an hour and a half. In some ways, the trip to Puerto Morelos feels like a lifetime ago...in others, it feels like yesterday.

And I'm sure, a year from now, that's how our first few days in Xela will feel. At that point, we'll have spent the full ten months in Guatemala. We'll be familiar with the clinic that we have committed ourselves to on faith; we'll have established relationships with people whose names we don't even know yet. And I'm quite sure the experience will have been, in many ways, unlike anything we could have anticipated. It is always so strange to be in that period right before something happens that you have been anticipating for a long time. It feels like something that ought to be savored, because at no other point will you still have all that newness and unknown-ness fully ahead of you.

The real countdown is on. Kelsey's last day at work was Friday; Jimmy takes Step 2 (CK) on Saturday. We pack up and head out for our cross-country trip a week from tomorrow. And before we know it, we'll be rolling up into the Xela bus station after an overnight flight, ready for the new adventure.

I can't wait!