Am I Prepared For This?

There is a lot one has to do in order to prepare to travel to another country.  Much of it I wasn't even aware of prior to this experience.  However, now after weeks of medical visits, filling out applications, classes, reading, and deciding what is essential to fit my luggage...the day is finally here.  In just hours I will embark on my first 18 hour plane ride.  Just that piece alone is hard to imagine.  I mean I do not think I have sat anywhere for a consecutive 18 hours. Yet, here I am with a carry on bag packed as though I know what I might need for this part of the journey and my hope is I will be correct.

The other thing I have been preparing is my soul.  I know I will need great patience and understanding while traveling with 9 strangers. Yes, basic strangers and this is yet another interesting piece of this India puzzle.  I will be sent on the journey of a life time with 9 strangers...not my husband (who I love going on adventures with), not my family who has to continue to love me not matter what I do on adventures with them (or at least that is what I tell myself)....but 9 strangers.  We all come from different backgrounds and cultures, we range in age from early 20's to 40's(ish)...and we were all chosen to live this two weeks of our lives together.  Yet, I have fear about this.  What is even more interesting is I have no trouble walking up to a complete stranger who lives under a bridge, but one who lives in the suburbs makes me worry.  What is that about?  How do I really prepare for this piece?

As a group of 9 strangers, we were assigned 2 books to read before we left. The one many of you book lovers would enjoy discussing at your book clubs is called, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo.  The book sheds light on life in a Mumbai slum.  Each page is full of ways in which people live in a poverty, I will never truly understand.  I words have changed me.  I know the purpose of the book was to educate our minds and get us thinking about what we are about to embark on as social workers, but for me it has opened my eyes to my own privilege and misunderstanding of entire country.  Unfortunately, it has also made me wonder is my heart ready for this?  How can I prepare for something I have only read about?

So as I have spent weeks preparing to go on this trip, now I sit in the idea of am I really ready?  Can my soul open up wide enough to take this adventure in, while not judging it or condemning it?  Am I really prepared for this adventure?  Do I have the strength, patience, compassion, and courage to do this?  The truth is I can only hope is I am...

Now I as you...are you ready?  If so...stay tuned because our adventure is about to begin....and you don't even have to take an 18 hour plane ride!  Happy Friday Peeps, love one another in big ways.