'Twas the Night Before...

I leave tomorrow for 2 weeks in the States. I finished work and my luggage is already back at the office waiting to go to where the buss takes off. I have only my day pack to carry in tomorrow morning, and it has been sanitized of knives and lotions an other bad juju. Pack the netbook tonight, shower, get up and dress and head out. Go to sleep tomorrow night in TN, God willing. They assigned me a good seat on the second leg of the flight, so guess I won't get bumped after all.

My taxi driver gifted me with a bag of fresh roasted and ground coffee as I got out of the taxi this evening. I'm thinking that some coffee, maybe with some Baileys, and just sit my tail in my recliner tonight is a good plan. I had thought I'd do some ironing and such, but the longer I sit here the less I think it needs to be done after all. I may get a burst of energy later. Or not.

So, 15 months into this adventure I'm not as far along on many things as I'd hoped, but I'm a lot further along than I was when I came down here. Debt is going away slowly. The life here is actually pretty easy for me. Few decisions on a day-to-day basis, not a lot of options to worry about. I felt myself slipping into the 'responsible adult' mode a bit as I walked out from work. You know, the one who thinks about where to go, what to eat, where to shop. Or, if you have never lived where there are no options maybe you don't know. There was a Doonesbury awhile back where Ray, the perennial soldier, was told he was being sent home. His response was 'But home is couples counseling and AT&T bills!'. I about fell over laughing, because I knew exactly what he meant. It's actually having to think again. It's being able to just pick up a cell phone and calling anyone in the contacts list. Hell, it's having a contacts list on the phone to call people from.

As I rode home in the taxi from work I was again thinking about how there isn't a lot of fru-fru down here. Life is right out in the open. Mechanics shops and restaurants and houses and places selling used tires all thrown together, people of all ages and all types of transportation from oxen cart to horse to bicycle to bus to fancy cars all together on the roads. Handicapped and crippled folks mingled in with everyone else. Trash and beautiful buildings. It's all right out there together. In a lot of ways I think a lot is lost by hiding the nuts and bolts of life the way it is in 3rd world countries. But, I admit I'm looking forward to McDonald's for breakfast and knowing I can get pretty much whatever I want at the Super WalMart next door, and that it's safe to go there at any time of day or night.

Wow. All that and I haven't even broken open the Baileys yet. :)