I'll fly away...

The past few days have been some of the most fun I've had in Mexico. It's funny... every semester of college, I have ended up saying at least once, "wouldn't it be great if there were college, just without the classes?" That's what the last few days have been - beautiful weather, lots of friends, and lots of doing my favorite things here. God has blessed me with, somehow, the ability to realize that I have limited time and enjoy that time immensely without getting too sad about the fact that it is coming to an end.

The best part of it all? At the end of the week, when I have to leave this amazingly beautiful, fun place that has been my home for the past four months, I will return to what my friend Mona would call "some of my other homes" - a day with great friends in Atlanta and a few weeks hanging out with the people who make Kansas home (my family and my best friend). I don't how, but somehow, God has allowed me to see that I don't have to be simultaneously sad to leave and homesick; instead, I can be so grateful for the time I have here, and so thrilled to go back to the people I love.

I know I haven't written in a while... that's due to a combination of insane busy-ness and general lack of desire to try to put all my thoughts into writing. Sorry about that. I promise I'm still alive, and life has been very good.

My time is Mexico is rapidly drawing to a close. The first of 10 exchange students left for the airport at 4:30 this morning. I said goodbye to a Mexican student (and wonderful friend) for the first time just a few hours earlier. Tomorrow is the last official El Pozo event of the semester, and most everyone else leaves Friday or Saturday. My feelings about this, at the moment, are very mixed. I'm sad to leave these people who I have grown to love and this place for which I have developed a deep passion. At the same time, though, I am very much looking forward to some things about home - the friends and family I love, my car, and a sense of completion. At the moment, I feel stuck in limbo: my official duties are over and people are leaving, but I'm here for another week.

Angie told us to be prepared: a time will come when we crash. It may be days, weeks, or months after we return, but it'll happen. I'll be in the States, in my home (or at my school), and I'll feel out of place/uncomfortable. This seems bizarre - how can I be uncomfortable in the place I'm from? I guess knowing it's coming helps, but it's a little scary. I'm very glad that I have good friends who will be there to help me and make me take those struggles to God when the time comes.

Sorry this is short, but I think that's all for now. Seven days until I'm back in the States.