T minus 48

"'And then he repeated, very slowly and very seriously, 'Please...draw me a sheep...'
In the face of an overpowering mystery, you don't dare disobey. Absurd as it seemed, a thousand miles from all inhabited regions, and in danger of death, I took a scrap of paper and a pen out of my pocket. But then I remembered that I had mostly studied geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar, and I told the little fellow (rather closely) that I didn't know how to draw.
He replied, 'That doesn't matter. Draw me a sheep.'"

-The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

In less that 48 hours I will be on a flight to Scotland. The day came so quickly. After I've said goodbye to more than a dozen family members and friends over the past week, I return to a room full of towering piles of things to pack and things to not pack. I am trying to focus on those grassy knolls that await me in the UK. I am trying to not give in to (though maybe the idea is that I should give in to) the overpowering mystery of what in the hell awaits me in the next few months. I've booked my flight, prepared my visa, checked documents, made copies of documents, made copies of copies, and filed those copies into tightly zippered pouches. I can prepare zippered pouches until I turn blue in the face, but the reality is that I will never be able to imagine what I will know as reality in those quickly approaching 48 hours.

Later in the passage above, the Little Prince accepts the picture of a box with three holes as an adequate drawing of a sheep. He sees the potential of the unknown as a perfect solution to his sheep problem. I have just an inkling, just 3 holes worth, of an idea of what my semester in Scotland and beyond will be like. But I think that's enough for now. I have such a mix of emotions, on the eve-eve of departure, but I am doing my best to accept the sheepbox and just do it. Just going to get on that plane with Charlene (my roommate and official partner in crime for scotland adventures 2010) and when we get off we will be in freaking Scotland.

While there, I will do my best to update this blog with happenings, both mundane and exceptional, with relative frequency. It will also give me a chance to start writing again, because as it's made pretty clear in this jumble of thoughts and words and ramblings, I need the practice. As for now, I need to stop trying to make sense of my thoughts and start packing. Adios for now. (note to self: find out how scots say goodbye. I have a feeling it's not adios.)