Close your eyes, hold your breath, cross your fingers and sing a song...

...here I go!

I am leaving the homeland in approximately 2 days. As I move to a city with a larger population than the state I was born and bred in, Idaho, I find myself taking stock of what's important enough to pack with me, who means enough to me to visit before I leave, and what I think I know about life. Proudly, I boast my ability to pack a year's worth of supplies and valuables into one duffle bag and a carry-on.

I struggled to close the zipper, but struggled more saying good-bye to photos, letters, and gifts from my people. Shout-out to my night shift nurses, my Honors College buddies, Air Force men, roommates, High School friends, teachers, Terhaars, Uhlorns, Ackermans, etc., Boiseans, San Franciscans, Cottonwooders, mountain-climbing uncles and musical aunties, a couple of really good guys who mean a lot to me, hippie gurus, a Denmarkian, my sisters' friends, a dancing engineer and all of the guys from D-Suite who may or may not play World of Warcraft, youth leaders, and my kids from the Center for Discovery back in the day... I wish you all would fit into my duffel bag.

I know I'm not dying, and that I'll only be gone a year, but I'll miss you, and as long as you're proud of me I guess I can't be too lonely.

It's about time to get out of po-dunk Idaho, with its killer mountains, patchwork quilt prairies, and massive rivers. A new chapter begins when I get on my first international flight. I can't wait to fill the pages, and I can't wait to see how it all fits into the story that has already begun. Wish me luck; Pray for me; Burn some sweet grass... whatever it is that you do, and I'll look through my old pictures of you.

Auf Wiedersehen, Peace Out,
Dani