And we're OFF!!

Whew! after two crazy last days of packing; photocopying paperwork; and explaining the quirks of my cat to the housesitter, we finally left Toulouse this morning at 6 am for a drive to Paris. Tomorrow is the massive flying day, I haven't dared yet to count how many hours of flights and hanging out at airports. It doesnt quite seem real yet--I keep saying "Thursday we'll be in India!" but it doesnt sink in......

Im also starting to look at things through different eyes: oh, this is my last clean public toilet for awhile, by last baguette, last smelly French cheese, etc.... not with sadness, but with eagerness for a change of scenery. I have now lived in Toulouse longer than anywhere since I left my parents' home! and I had to search for the last time I had that feeling of discovery, of losing oneself in a new culture, where nobody knows you and has no expectations of you (other than white, blonde american, etc, but Im not going there)--the last time, a little bit, was Rome in 2001!!! and it isnt that different in many ways from France...

That giddy, just happy being alive feeling is also starting to come back--a friend I havent seen in so long I thought she was dead and gone. As if I'm 16 again and the world is ahead of me. That is, of course, assuming the plane arrives (no, I'm still not over my fear of flying).

thanks to you all for your love and support-in many ways, it is a blessed miracle that we can even be going on this trip!

see you in Dehli! and lots of love

Comments

[jen]

Hope you arrive safe and happy.
Will be thinkin' of yiz
Love
Jen P and M