Before the Sunrise

I’m feeling rather inspired to post one more thing before I go. Really, this blog might come off as a bit weird since the entries will be diced up little pieces of hurried emails written by yours truly and directed towards my family, so I need to get a bit out there that’s, well, ME. I certainly don’t want to look back at this blog and think, “What on earth was going on with my writing? You’d think I was five!” No, this is more a reminder for myself of the person I was before. The person who’s about to embark to Louisiana and come back as someone else completely. At least, that’s what I’m aiming for.

So what do I write about two days before leaving? How about getting a letter yesterday from my mission president requesting a plethora of new things to add to my ever shortening list of preparations that was only ever supposed to get smaller and not bigger? This list of things to do include a long trip to the DMV to stand in line and purchase a driving record as well as buy a bike and have it shipped to Louisiana.

Here is my first complaint: Humidity?! Bikes?! SKIRTS?! Really, I’ll do it, but I didn’t really think sister missionaries did that sort of thing. To be honest, I have no idea what it is exactly that sister missionaries do, as the only ones I’ve ever met have been in visitors’ centers and… that’s about it. I’ve never seen one in a car, on a bike, or in a bathroom. Are they allowed in bathrooms? So no matter how many mission prep classes I take, I don’t feel prepared. Everything we talk about goes in one ear and filters through this machine called the ‘Sure, this is what ELDERS do’ processor and out the other ear.

Then I guess I could talk a bit about freaking out yesterday at having all these new things thrust upon my plate, and how I decided that I wasn’t going. I’d make it through the MTC and come home and call it a learning experience. After all, I’m having a terrible time coming to grips with the fact that I won’t get to listen to Fleet Foxes or Simon and Garfunkel for a year and a half (Yeah, I’m a total hipster like that). I went to sleep thinking about all these things and how I was going to give up for the sake of my musical fixation, when all of a sudden I was awake and in stake conference where the topics were all on… need I say more? It was practically the gunshot I needed after getting on my mark, getting set, and going. This is really it. This is exactly where I need to be at this point in my life.

But really, what I want most to express is how upset I am that someone stole the last of my Thin Mints right off the table next to my cot.