Today we got up, and the Nies drove us to the airport
where Christian and I departed on our African journey.
First, we'd fly to Arizona to meet up with the team and spend one
night in Phoenix, then we'll fly to Minnesota to Amsterdam
and finally landing in Tanzania.
Feeling excited...and a little nervous.
This is Christian's second time in Africa and my first.
When I first met Christian in March of 2000,
he planned a THREE-month humanitarian
trip to Mozambique.
After our first date in May of 2000, he left the very next day for Africa
and I thought my world was going to end
since I knew I had found my soulmate.
It was a very long summer for me!
It's fun to be going back to Africa this time together!
It was sad having to say goodbye to my children.
They are always a little hesitant whenever we leave together because
once in August of 2008, we said goodbye to them and didn't come back
for a very long time.
I think they each have varying degrees of PTSD.
But we assured them we'd be back (and with African surprises!).
On our way to the airport, Gigs gasped and said,
"Holy crap, STOP!! I have to work in 15 minutes. I forgot!"
So we had to turn around and drop him off at the house so he could change
into his work clothes. We said our goodbyes to him, and he jetted
off on the motorcycle to work just down the street.
Welp, goodbye son!
