April 8, 2010

A Case of the Three’s

It’s funny how sometimes right before something big happens, everything seems to coalesce rather profoundly around something which would otherwise feel entirely insignificant.  This morning, as I stare out the train window, enjoying my first and last (for a while) views of the Eastern Seaboard, gazing upon the early morning sunlight flickering through branches of trees about to burst with new spring life, I find myself fixated on the number three. 

Three days until I leave. 

Three cities left in America (D.C., Philadelphia, New York), then three cities in Africa (Johanasburg, Gaborone, Molepolole). 

Three BIG bags.

Three impending goodbye calls to family. 

Three Peace Corps values—patience, flexibility, and never forming expectations—which are prudent to success as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

The three-part Peace Corps Mission which I hope to manifest throughout my service and beyond:

1.    To help the people of interested countries in meeting the need for trained men and women.
2.    To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served.
3.    To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans.

And finally, the three simultaneous emotions, each spectacularly intense, which seem to be holding my sanity hostage: excitement, terror, and absolute confidence that whatever the end result, I am doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing.