Last Call...

Well, not officially. I leave the island in two days but I’m wrapping up things here in Bull Savannah. I decided to the ordination of Fr. Raymond be my official bookend to my time here. It seemed fitting. Raymond first came here for a year after he graduated college and he never really went back. Now, after a ten year journey, he’s a priest in this missionary society and as an outsider looking in I have to wonder why aren’t all paths that straight? Of course, I’m assuming it was. I have a feeling Raymond might say otherwise.

My last couple of weeks have centered on final exams, graduation and spending time with the fine folks I have met here. I cannot believe this is ending so quickly but to be honest, I am ready to go home. The final straws were the cockroach that was crawling up my back the other day and the fate of my sandals: Randy the German Shepherd used them as chew toys. I’m ready to go… for now. I have no doubt I will be itching to come back down here especially the moment the thermometer drops below 65 degrees!

There really isn’t much more to add to this story; not without divulging experiences that are extremely personal and might betray a certain unspoken confidentiality. As for insights, learning, observations and changes; I’ve basically said them all here and would be repeating myself. I feel I have to give the obligatory nod to the fact that I’m not the same man I was when I stepped off the plane in December and I have a clearer picture of what I want to do with the rest of my life – which was part of the aim of quitting my corporate job; an event which was the start of these pages two years ago. It seems like so much longer than two years, though.

I have a lot of things running through my head as I prepare to go; topics of where I’m going to live, what life will be like, and whether or not I’ll like being back in the U.S. I’ll have plenty of time to ponder that last one very soon as my family convenes in Hawaii for a get together in a few weeks. Yep. I’m swapping one tropical island for another. It’s good work if you can get it. Just watch out for cockroaches.

That’s probably the best advice I can give anyone right now.

This is my sign off for a while, friends. I’ll be involved in a frenzy of activity between my homecoming and my aforementioned vacation. (For all the wiseacres out there, no, this has not been one long vacation!) I probably won’t get back to this space until after I get back next month so until then, walk good.