A Day of Goodbyes

Hello Friends,
I left Glenview for DC today, which meant I had to say goodbye to my family. After a weekend of tons of packing and getting ready, I still wasn't prepared for today. Of course it was hard to get through it all, and I believe it was my insistance on pushing my feelings way deep down that led me to be feeling pretty sick later in the afternoon. However, as you can tell, I made it through that alive.
After a bumpy half-awake and half-asleep flight I took a cab with a very sympathetic cab driver to Alicia's apartment where I am spending the night. I also met a very sympathetic desk clerk at the apartment, which really made me feel good; here were 2 people seeing me, white as a ghost, talking myself out of throwing up, and they were both very kind and helpful.
Later, I met up with some wonderful friends from AU and the DC area. We had a really great time at 4Ps in Cleveland Park. I felt better almost as soon as I got there. I love this city and my wonderful friends who live here and I was so glad to share some time with them tonight. I am so glad that my staging (which is where the volunteers from my group meet one another, go over basic training and prepare to fly abroad together) was in DC. One friend commented that it must have been hard to say goodbye to my friends like I did. I realized that over the past few years I've said an awful lot of goodbyes, and feel as though they must just be a part of growing up. I'm much better at it now that I ever have been, because I know I will see these people again, and in the mean time, there's always email, AIM and skype. :)
Tuesday afternoon I will get to meet the people in my group and from there we will be busy in training until November. We leave for Santo Domingo for training on Thursday. I will be living with a host family for a few weeks in that city and will know my permanent post after a while.
I would like to thank everyone who is reading this, who has offered me kind words. You're support means the world to me; there's no way I could do this without the support of loving friends and family. (Interestingly, people have been telling me to "be safe more" than anything else... I wonder if I give off an "I'm not safe" vibe. hum.)
I'm feeling much better now than I did earlier today and believe that the worst is behind me. I am excited for what is to come...