On Leaving St. Louis

This past week in St. Louis has been wonderful, if not busy. Thibodeaux was in town, and before I left town I finally got to see him holding a banjo that he owned. It’s been literal years since we’ve insisted he get a banjo, so to finally see it was simply brilliant. We played some trivia, consumed a great deal of great St. Louis food (Blue Hill! Annie Gun’s! Imo’s! Fitz’s!), and put off my second round of packing far too long. One of the highlights of my week home, however, had to have been when I went up to Truman to see Katie, Mama K and Tania.

It’s almost a crime that I got to see my girls for a few brief hours before having to leave them again, but I’m extremely glad I went. My Kirksville trip was distracting in the best and worst of ways — it was around 10 on Thursday night when I realized I had yet a few errands to complete — but it was lovely to get away from the OMGKENYA that’s been going on at my house for the past few days. I also hadn’t been to Truman since I was a senior in high school — Tania and I road-tripped to see Mama K and a Ben Folds concert during parents weekend. It was a little bit of a trip to see it again with three years of Carolina under my belt. I think all of Kirksville is smaller than South Campus, forgive the hyperbole. But with that smallness comes a sense of community that is at times, perhaps, harder to discern in Chapel Hill. But I know that going to Carolina was absolutely the right choice for me, and the experiences I’ve had and the friends I’ve made there are irreplaceable. It was nice to go back to see an Option and realizing I had made the right choice – a choice that, at the time, was very hard to make.
 
On the way up to Kirksville on Wednesday evening, I was treated to an absolutely stunning sunset. Missouri sunsets kick Carolina sunsets’ ass to the curb, I swear. I think it has to do with the flatness of this landscape, especially up by Truman, which is only an hour or so from Iowa. But even in somewhat hilly St. Louis, we still get amazing, awe-inspiring, faith-reaffirming sunsets. I was driving dead north and had the entire sunset right outside the window the entire time. There seems to be a pattern between big times I have Left St. Louis and epic sunsets. I recall there was an incredible sunset in Forest Park the night before I went off to Chapel Hill for school, for example. I kind of love that, I really do. Epic sunsets.
 
So tomorrow is The Day. I indeed have far packed far too much shit, but most of it is staying in Kenya (like my homestay gifts, sleeping bag, and all the medicine/toiletries I’m bringing). I’m just anxious now to UNpack and get a little more settled. I’m good at living out of a suitcase, but only for so long with the whole camping thing (we may not have running water or electricity the first few days  — our orientation is in the bush?). I’m also leaving the country with a few untied ends: 1) my MCAT scores aren’t in yet, and therefore I can’t apply to med school before I leave, and 2) I lack an advisor for my honors thesis, despite the fact that I’ve been trying to find one since the beginning of August. But I’m ready to leave all that behind and attempt to make the absolute most out of every moment of this.

Take a breath. Dive in.

It’s a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no telling where you might be swept off to.

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