Last time I left the country, I timed the
weather nearly perfectly. Don’t get me wrong, I love Arizona summer….there is
nothing like getting into your car in the middle of June and doing a
fish-out-of-water gasping face because the sun has burned the oxygen out of
your vehicle…nothing like going to stores just to use their air conditioning
annnd not being ashamed at all to say those exact words to the cashier when you
leave without buying anything. I sound
like I am kidding, but I actually love these things and they make you
appreciate even the slightest degree change below triple digits. That said….
SOMETIMES IT IS JUST FREAKING HOT!
But when I got up the other day and let the
dog out at 3:57 in the morning and it was 60 degrees, my thinned out summer blood
froze a little bit.
Super. Because we are about T minus 8 hours
from a plane lifting off to deposit me in a place where winter is real.
Whiiiich leads us toooooo: TRAVEL FEARS
RELOADED, a delightfully Canadian version of a very similar post from my Hungary/Romania/Benin
travels. If you missed it, I basically tell you about things that make me want
to crap my pants and you get to laugh about it. Isn’t that nice?
Thing one: That thin ass blood of mine. I
am really bad at cold. During Arizona “winter,” my fingers are ALWAYS cold.
Actually, my physical body temperature averages between 97.0 and 97.4 degrees
(I know this because I give blood, not because I sit around taking my
temperature). So I am not just a big whiner when it is cold, I am literally colder
than a human body should be! I am going to play with sled dogs though, so this
fear will rapidly have to be overcome. Last year, this weather fear manifested
itself in the form of traveling to a place where it rains all the time when you
don’t really like water (why do I do this to myself?), but after a few
torrential rain storms in Ouidah which turned the roads into rivers, and then
impassable puddles, water and I were in a good place. In fact, I came home and
started swimming regularly! So hey, maybe if I am worried about cold and snow
and blizzards and frost bite and frozen corneas and toes that fall off in
Quebec, I will just overcome and do something crazy like run the Iditarod…;P
Thing two: If you have been with me since
last year, this one will seem pretty repetitive, but my family is really cool
and I am going to miss them a lot. My mom told when I came home from Benin that
I could never leave for 8 weeks straight again….apparently I was confused and
thought she meant that I had to go LONGER than that when I took the 6 MONTH
position at Miortuk Kennels… Oops, I am a terrible daughter. The Kings are
going pretty global for the next sixth months with my older sister Arielle in
New Zealand, me in Canada, and my mom, dad, and two little sisters in the
states, going wherever they please. There will certainly be rough days for all
of us, but at least no one will have to communicate from an internet café slash
blood bank for mosquitos, where mosquitos come to enjoy a nice drink in
exchange for malaria, yellow fever, and West Nile. Nope, Arielle may have to
run from the sheep in New Zealand (or the stupid, fat hobbitses!), but we will
all putting Google Hangout to good use for sure! We will have to see if Jasper,
my Australian Shepherd, will want to see me when we video chat, or if he will
eat the computer out of rage because I left him…poor guy, he is already a
little crazy, hopefully my absence doesn’t throw him over the edge!
So, all in all, I don’t really have a lot
of fears, I mostly just have concerns about specific themes. These themes tend to
either be weather related orrrr good ol’ fashioned separation anxiety.
But even though my trepidations are so
tangible I can sort them into nice little
themed files, I am truly not as worried I
was the first time I left the country. I am not preaching, but I am far to dumb
to build my own life, so I told Jesus to play-doh me into whatever He wanted or
needed. Holy hands molding play-doh hearts…it really does make everything
easier.
I do
however feel like my shitty thin blood is boiling under my skin though, ready
for adventure, ready for an uncertain future. Krakauer summed up the
feeling best really in Into the Wild:
Nothing is more damaging to
the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core
of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes
from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy
than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and
different sun.
So here is to tomorrow’s different sun, and whatever is
to come. Hopefully Jesus doesn’t turn me into Mr. Bill, although Mr. Bill Goes
Mushing might make a great digital short someday…=P
Seriously though, look at how amazing my family is too. After looking at these pictures, you are going to have seperation anxiety from them too, and you haven't even probably met them!
So about a month ago, I was at Joann's Fabric and Craft store with my mom and sistres and had an inappropriate for my age fit over how cute this fabric was. Well, my mamma bought it for me and now when it is blizzarding, I will have this adorable adult-sized baby blanky that she made just for me. 
Someday, I will spend a whole blog explaining my family's obsession with raccoons. Another time. This however, is a bunch of raccoon flipbooks put together by my sister Olivia. They really only scratche the surface of the obsession.
(If you really want to know now, it may have started somwhere inbetween this video and this one. Cats should really take a backseat to raccoons when it comes to the best Youtube videos)
Meet Felicia. She is one of my little sisters. Obviously CS Lewis never met her...
And then there is this. The scrapbook of silliness from my sisters was already the best thing ever, and then I turned to this page, where I found my family in paper, ready to give me a hug whenever I need it during the next 6 months!
Or strangle me, whichever seems more appropriate at any given moment =D
For the honor and glory.
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