Mixin’ it up

So with just about one week left before I board that plane heading back to Miami, it is starting to sink in that I will actually be leaving Bolivia behind for six weeks to come home.

I am feeling a real mix of emotions right now. On one hand I am so ready to come home. I have grown so much this year. I have experienced moments of success and true joy and moments of extreme failure and frustration.

And I just miss the predictability and comfort of home.

But on the other hand I am starting to really feel a weight of sadness in my heart. I am really going to miss La Paz. And it is not just because I will be separated from Paola for three weeks. It is for all the relationships and places that I will be leaving. The food that I have grown to love. The mountains and the clear blue skies. The fumes from the awful public transportation. The kids’ smiles. Savoring a Coke like never before in my life. Speaking Spanish all the time. Everything.

This country has really captured my heart. And although I know that I will only be away for six weeks it is still going to hurt. But I know that the sadness I am going to feel over the lack of La Paz in my heart will be cured by seeing you.

By seeing my family and my friends who I have not seen all this year. By seeing the Atlanta skyline. By eating at all my favorite restaurants. By driving. By speaking English. By sweet tea and southern BBQ. Everything.

There is so much to tell you in person.
No doubt I have changed and you have changed too.
Let’s hope it’s for the better.
I am skinnier that’s for sure.

I am so sappy right now (happy & sad). My days right not are pretty much consumed with preparations for my trip back home, telling people that I can’t help them until next year and planning for my wedding in January here in La Paz. I am almost at the point of opening the suitcases on the floor of my bedroom and starting.

But I just can’t quite do it yet.