Just Do It

Phil, Alison, Gabriela, and I just got back from an overnight adventure to Oconee Lake (Reservoir). Ali booked a night at "The Lodge"- a nice hotel right on the banks of Lake Oconee as a father's day get away. It was just that.

I admit that I was a bit nervous about sharing a room with Gabriela for an entire night. When Ali invited me I thought about how many of the nights that I've been here, and how many of them the little one has woken up (sometimes for hours on end). I wanted to be respectful and be appreciative of the gesture to include me in the fun and time to celebrate father's day- but honestly- I have been in somewhat of a weird transitional space- and I thought seriously about just giving the three of them full freedom and time together as my gift both to myself and to them. But something deep inside me spoke up and said- "dude, you should just go and be with people you love." Sometimes when I feel like withdrawing and being alone, I actually really need to be with people. This was one of those times.

We got to the place yesterday in the early evening. After some classic misdirection with directions, we made it successfully to the "Lodge". All of us were quite tired, hungry, and ready to be out of the car. It being Phil's day, it was his choice for dinner. We asked the same woman at the front desk who had given us the directions that helped us correct my misdirection, and Phil decided on a surf and turf kinda place just next door to the hotel. It was great. 

Gabriela loved the live band that was setting up while we were ordering. Phil got a steak. Ali got grouper. And I, believe it or not, went for the grilled salmon caesar. Gabriela had cheese, bits of steamed veggies, and other random chunks of food from mom's plate. We shared food, conversation, and especially enjoyed watching Gabriela crawl all over the top of the table as well as single-handedly capture the attention of everyone on our side of the restaurant. I asked Phil about what stands out in his memory of being a first year dad. I loved what he said ( sorry if I misquote you here Phil).  

He said that those first weeks were amazing; getting to hold little Gabriela in his arms; listening to her sleep; and, of course, watching her grow. The other first firsts: seeing her recognize him, watching her laugh for the first time, clapping to her first steps. All the classics. But I especially loved what Phil had to say about just not worrying about the same things. That is to say reprioritizing. It's not so important that everything happens on time. It's not so important that things are always clean. Even little miscommunication and misunderstandings whether at work or other relationships- just don't cause the same kind of worry now. Now it's whether Gabriela is healthy, safe, and happy. I know I may be romanticizing things- but I love how Phil has embraced being a dad.

I want to thank Ali for including me on this little weekend tribute to Phil. I also admire her commitment to being such an ever present parent and considerate spouse (all while being a full-time grad student). Seriously, how do you do it Ali? Anyhow- I continue to be honored to be here and am grateful to be reminded that sometimes you gotta just do it. Just do it.

Not Much to Say

There's a title.

Makes me think of Joel giving me a hard time about using the expression "to make a long story short" while telling really long-winded, poorly-summarized stories.

Life down here continues to provide daily adventure. Things more or less follow the sleep patterns of Gabriela's fiercely rest-fighting spirit. She continues to wake up during the night and Alison with her- I don't know how either of them are not complete and utter zombies sometimes. Gabriela has the benefit of being able to make up for her fitful nights with days of napping. Alison not so much- she's got to go and be at the hospital for a twelve-hour shift today. Als is tough.

Phil's out working. I got a small taste of what it's like for him to do handy-work in this particular climate yesterday. He asked me to come and help out with clean-up at one of his work-sites. It took all of 5 minutes for my t-shirt to be completely saturated with sweat, and after 10 minutes, the humidity was so heavy that somehow the sweat had congealed like bacon grease in a pan. Seriously though- I had a layer of goo covering my skin from head to toe. I don't know how he does it. Phil is tough. 

Last night I got to play ultimate frisbee in this same swampiness. I attempted to be extra-pre-hydrated before starting. I think it made it worse. I was covered by the aforementioned goo in even less time (probably had to do with only having like two subs on the sidelines). Still, the team that Phil and I are on, Bush Divers (yeah, I know- you should hear our cheers), always has a cooler full of ice-cold beer. Most nights, this sounds completely revolting to me (ok, well, mostly). But when, you can't find respite from the invisible but very palpable heat- blanket that surrounds you, High-life is like 12 ounces of pure heaven. Well, maybe it's not heaven so much as it's a nice break from Hell. I am not tough.

Today is Friday and I will have officially been 'manny' for my first week. There have been many highlights. From Gabriela's constant stream of hilarious sounds (her favorite expression of joy and excitement sounds something like a cross between a monkey's howl and a bird's chirp) to her pooping on the floor in a brief diaper-less moment to her endless fascination with the spice droor (seriously, she can spend 10-15 minutes just digging through the thing)- she's made it a great first week. She seems to have mostly gotten used to me. I could tell that, especially in the mornings, she wasn't used to seeing me. But she let's me hold her, seems to know that I am part of the clan, and even seems to recognize me in the mornings now. She does such a great job reminding me of the basic, important things in life. 

After all, what could be more important than loving, eating, playing, pooping, and sleeping? I guess we adults have to work so that we can provide these basic things. But the irony is that those things are the basic things that bring the most joy anyway. But what do I know- I'm just the manny.

Thanks for sharing Gabriela Phil and Ali-

Thanks for putting up with me Gabriela-

Priceless

Today was a nice calm Saturday.

Phil and I went to a 9:15 showing of The Hangover, so we were up decently late, and it felt great to sleep in. Phil and Ali don't have that luxury. I heard Ali get up and run out the door early this morning, and then I heard Phil and Peanut up around 8 having fun with breakfast and toys. My departure from my new room (I have the master bedroom with my own bathroom- far more than I deserve but not more than I appreciate- thanks Phil and Als) wasn't until 9:35. Man it feels good to sleep in. 

Phil and GRAE were having fun eating yogurt with rice crispies. There's a real art to feeding yogurt to a one year-old with a spoon. If you go straight in and out, usually there's a fair amount left in the bottom of the spoon (not to mention, that with Gabriela's speed, she usually chomps down fast enough to have the upper level squish all over the outside of her mouth. The most effective technique involves an angled approach followed by an oppositely angled exit- Phil's got the touch. I'm still working on it.

Anyhow- the highlight of the day today was most definitely watching Phil free Gabriela from her cloth bonds (otherwise known as her diaper) and seeing her usual joyous response. She climbed, crawled, and waddled around with this added look of freedom she gets when she's naked. Phil let her come into the laundry room for another one of her favorite activities- helping with laundry. Then I hear- "Ike I need your help!" My first reaction was one of fear and I ran quick over to Phil and Peanut. 

I asked Phil: "What can I help you with?" And as soon as I'd asked the question, I saw the pile of cute baby poop that Gabriela had dropped right on the hard wood in front of the washing machine. Phil looked up at me and said, "Wipes, get some wipes Ike." I ran, grabbed them, and we cleaned up the mess in no time flat- Phil and I laughing the whole time. Priceless.

The rest of the day was more or less the usual playing around the house with various toys, making eating fun, taking the daily nap, and picking up the house at the end of the day before Mom came home. It was a great day to be with Phil and Gabriela. Besides the adventure in poo, we (GRAE and I ) had a great nap together that was a definite highlight. I can't wait for more priceless moments.

Magic

New Orleans is magical.

For those of you who still haven't had the window of opportunity open itself- contemplate cracking it open. For anyone who loves great people, great food, great music, history, culture, and adventure- this city has it all. It's a place that every American needs to visit. 

Anyhow- I got to spend the past 4 days in the Big Easy and it was great. This trip was made possible mostly by the doings of others- for which I am very grateful. My girlfriend Caroline had a good friend getting married this past weekend. When we parted back in April, she mentioned that she would be flying down south for the ceremony and would I like to tag along for a few days afterward (so I did also plant some seeds about that I would make a great tour guide- but hey- can you blame me?). So I guess Maria and her husband Adam (the now married couple and friends of Caroline) are mostly responsible, and I thanked both of them for getting married (they both gave me looks like- "who are you and what are you doing in our house?"). But really I have Caroline to thank for inviting me along. 

We ate great food. We had long conversations in open air cafes. We listened to great music. We even went on a swamp tour. This was a memorable adventure. And I am pretty sure that it was my last swamp tour. We loaded up with herd of other tourists in the Cajun Encounters bus that drove us out over expansive Lake Ponchartrain (spelling?). It was a 45 minute drive filled with blessed air-conditioning and insightful commentary by our native driver Renee. He filled us in on a lot of things regarding the devastation of Katrina-  water lines on 10 foot high fences we drove past; pointing out temporary bridges built because their "permanent" predecessors were completely swept away when the water level rose; painting the picture of how the french quarter is more or less bowl shaped and how, like a sink bowl, the water just went right to the middle and sat there when the french quarter flooded. He had all kinds of interesting things to share. Made the ride go by fast.

We got to the Honey Swamp Wildlife Preserve and pulled up to this little trailer built on stilts and paid for our tickets and put sunscreen on (which we didn't really need because the boats were covered). When the guides rolled in from their first tour of the day, the grouped the herd of about 50 or so tourists into some semblance of order and pointed us down the raised deckway toward the boats. To my amazement- everyone fit into the three seemingly too small boats they had waiting for us. Our captain came to welcome us last (his buddy next to us divulged that Captn Ted was probably stealing a cigarette break- he also mentioned that he himself had already done all the drugs he needed to and was thus ready to go)- Captn Ted. This guy was/is a character. 

Captn Ted (that's what he calls himself)- grew up in the swamp. As we would learn- his grandpa lived in the swamp for 94 years and only poked his out into civilization 20 times during the course of his life. Capt Ted filled with Cajun pride when talking about his swamp roots, his grandpa, and his growing up knowing every square inch of the swamp. We heard stories about searching for beautiful pearls left by the oysters found in the brackish waters of the swamp. We got lots of information on indigenous and intrusive plants. We learned all about alligators- from how they regulate body temperature, how they eat, how they mate (this was his favorite process to describe)- they guy knew a ton about gators. We heard about how, for 500 bucks, you could get a private trip with some local native americans that required you living with them for a week and paddling kayaks in the middle of the night 18 miles out toward the Gulf of Mexico in order to see the famous Big Al- an 18 foot alligator (means he's over 150 years old!!!).  The guy talked about everything from how necessary alligator farming has become to how corrupt the federal government has been and continues to be in regards to stealing from the little guy. The guy didn't take a breath for the first hour.

I think that, at first, all of us in the boat were intrigued and grateful that we had gotten the true local Capt Ted. He had us in the palm of his hand with his gritty swamp anecdotes and his endearing stories about his grandpa. But when he launched into this conspiratorial government is the root of all evil sermon (the guy covered the fossil fuels industry, green energy, farming practices, and, of course, hurrican relief efforts)- I think a few folks were feeling like they had somehow ended up in First Cajun Church of the Swamp with Pastor Captn Ted. The guy preached about everything from big government to spiritual contentment to true love (he shared one totally inappropriate story about how women shouldn't buy perfume because he knows a flower from the swamp whose nectar when mixed with a drop of water smells better than anything on earth. I thought I could talk. This guy had us entertained, information-saturated, and ultimately exhausted at the end of our 3 hour service. But obviously it was an experience none of us in that boat will soon forget (that is except the large man at the end who- was somehow able to sleep sitting up for then entire three hours).

That was Tuesday. Yesterday was a nice, relaxing last day. We had a lovely and leisurely breakfast at this little French pastry shop- yummy croissants and coffee and conversation. Like Granny says- so nice to just sit and chat. We then took a walk over to the mighty Mississippi and dipped our toes in (looked gross but felt great). We found the used/antique bookstore that mom and I went to when she visited me in NOLA back in 2005- had a nice time looking at books and feeling the air conditioning. And then we wandered to Jackson Square and sat in an open air cafe and had a long lunch. By then it was time to catch the taxi to the airport. 

The time was short and sweet. I have no idea when my next visit to the city of magic. But I do know that I am grateful for the opportunity to feel her charm and share it with someone I love.

Thanks New Orleans. Thanks Caroline.

Phil- my cousin, brother, friend, and mentor- picked me up at the airport last night. Timed perfectly- I walked right outside to where he had just parked by the curbside pick up and we were back here at the house at around 11pm. We caught up on all things Gabriela. Appears that she is sleeping better- actually taking her two naps during the day, though her nights are still filled with fits of waking and wanting to nurse. Phil credits Grandma Judy with Gabriela's willingness to resume her napping. So it will be interesting to see how things go this week with the two of us. Grandma leaves today in the afternoon. Uncle Ike, otherwise known as the Manny, formally begins his duties tomorrow. 

I'm sitting here at the kitchen table, in the cool of the shaded house, listening to some slow blues preparing to savor this time here in Atlanta. 

Happy Birthday Gabriela

The cutest little girl on the earth turned one year old today.

Gabriela Rae Coburn (I hope I spelled that right)- is celebrating at the moment by actually, finally laying down for a nap. All of us here in Atlanta are hoping that she gives herself the gift of a nice long nap. She's been really struggling with getting back into a regular sleep rhythm. She and her Uncle have at least that much in common. But she's wayyyyyy cuter.

Today is day two here and Gabriela has already managed to pretty much laugh and smile the whole time. She is soooo much bigger than the last time I saw her. In fact, Ali gave me a picture of the last and first time I met Peanut (back in August at just two months). Back then, she was small enough to take a nap on my chest. Now, she has teeth, walks, and can even say "Bob" (she likes bob as a name for lots of things). She is super strong and can easily push things over, pull things down, and rip pages out of books. She is also incredibly fast. She can be out of your arms, crawl across the room, and have ten things in her mouth before you've finished picking the booger you were working on. Keeps you on your toes. 

Ali, Judy, and I were the first this morning to get to wish Gabriela happy birthday. We sang her the birthday song and clapped together (this is also one of her favorite things to do). We then got to witness the opening of the first present which was this totally great sand/water/train/sandcastle structure complete with shovels, removable (and thus throwable) trains. Grae was mostly interested in taking it apart. You gotta admit- there's totally something strangely cathartic about taking something apart. 

Anyhow- I learned from Ali that Gabriela was officially born at 1:05pm last year. And I still remember being in Bozeman with Granny when Phil's call came. I remember Grandma having almost laid down for her nap, but upon hearing my voice downstairs, her running down the stairs to grab the phone from me. That was awesome. I have never seen her move that fast. 

We celebrated in Bozeman with Grandpa, Grandma, Leah, and myself.

The crew here is getting ready for the birthday celebration that officially takes place tomorrow. Bunches of other little ones will be here (accompanied by the parental units of course). Ali's sister and her cute little ones will be here as well as other dear friends. In total I think there's going to be around 45! Gonna be great.

Happy Birthday Gabriela-

A Long List of a Brief Trip to Mexico

Random Observations, Reflections, and Things I'm Looking Forward To

- My first carbonated beverage here was an 8 ounce Corona (seriously they are as cute as they sound). My last is the sparkling mineral water I am sipping.

-My first full day in Mexico was spent with like 30 of Gabe Vile-gas' family and me not knowing any Spanish. My last day here I am sitting on the top tier of the balcony in my hostel just me and my mineral water.

-On the first bus ride I took down to Puerto Escondido, it was an all night trip they said would take 12 hours- it took 16. It was so cold that I mustered the courage to make gestures to indicate to the bus driver (while repeating "muy frio"). On my last bus ride I rode during the day and was able to take in some spectacular scenery between here and Oaxaca (there are some huge mountains outside of Puebla and they were snowcapped). They said it would take 6 and a half hours- it took 6 hours. 

-When I showed up here, I had zero clean clothes. Being the general space cadet I am, I zoned out on doing laundry before leaving for Mexico City. This, of course, had something to do with the fact that I had zoned my passport (a story you all know). But I waited a whole two more days (until I got to Puerto Escondido) to actually do anything about it. Plus, my backpack already smells like 1o years of sweat, abuse, and a whole year of wood smoke. Gross. Anyhow- on my last night, I can say that I have budgeted much better with clothes. I have at least two outfits left (I even have my travel outfit laid out on my bed).

-Upon arrival, I had like 500 pesos (two 200's, a 50, a 20, and some change) from my dad's last trip to Mexico that he didn't bother to exchange. Today, I assessed my general peso situation and made the decision to take out a few extra just to cover my bases for food and travel tomorrow. Actually funny enough, I showed up here yesterday with exactly 500 left. So anyhow, I went to punch the correct button today to pull out an extra 200. I got 2000. Awesome. 

-I couldn't tell you the first song I heard when I first showed up here, but I can tell you that I'm listening to a cover of Steve Miller Bands "The Joker" (I think that's the title- all I remember is that Jens always thought the line was- really like your beaches, wanna shake your tree). Awesome.

-My first ride outside of the airport here was in a taxi with a very helpful Mexican man whom I met through another Mexican man on my flight. Carlos explained all of the things I had to try in terms of food (as well as a few other classically macho things I'll let you all imagine). He only made me pay like 20 pesos for a ride that was like 100 pesos. My last ride tomorrow in the morning will be on the amazing metro system that is here in Mexico City. I seriously cannot believe that people are willing to pay 130 pesos for a trip to the airport, when it's two pesos with the metro. 

Things Realized:

-Learning a language is humbling...real humbling. 

-Learning a language is also rewarding: that first order all by yourself, telling your host parents what you did with your day (in mostly correct past tense conjugations), and being able to understand a lot (when people speak slowly).

-It adds a layer to a travel experience to have an intention for the trip. I wanted to get a start on learning Spanish as well as taking a month to really just relax, reflect on this last year, and prepare for this next big year. Of course, I don't speak as well as I would like and I could've done a better job relaxing, but I mostly succeeded.

-Relaxing is difficult for me.

-You really do lose a language if you don't practice. I met a German dude here at the hostel and we talked today in Spanish, German, and English. I was struck by how much my sense of syntax and verb order has been shifted due to studying Spanish. I really struggled to speak German with him. But after awhile it started to come back.

-If you really want to learn a language you have to choose to keep learning, speaking, and being willing to make lots of mistakes. I hate making mistakes. But I love mastery. Like Churchill said- "I love to learn. I just hate being taught."

-Making the effort to speak the language of the country you are in (no matter how bad you think you are or how awkward it feels) is the best way to show cultural respect. That is, besides, making sure to keep your clothes on.

-Dancing is sooo much fun.

-Mezcal IS different than Tequila.

-Quesillo does start to get old after 4 weeks (you were right Gabe).

-I can appreciate cities for a real short period of time, from a distance, while taking lots of rest, meditating before going out into them, and ingesting mood stabilizing substances. 

-I really just don't like cities.

-Living with a host family is an invaluable experience (especially while learning a language).

-The internet blows my mind.

-Wi-Fi scrapes my mind off the floor and makes it look all pretty again.

-I am weird.

-When I'm bored and lonely, my blogs start to get long-winded and really forced.

-Traveling is exhausting.

-Traveling is also a huge priveledge- one that is such a priveledge it's hard to fully realize. I don't think I spelled priveledged incorrectly.

-Traveling on your own is a completely different experience than traveling with a companion.

-I didn't fart as much as I thought I would down here.

-It's really important to travel to different places (doesn't have to be thousands of miles away)- to get physically away from where you live. There's something about being physically away that grants us perspective.

-It's important for me to be outside in nature- consistently. 

-I love watching soccer.

-You meet some of the most interesting people when traveling.

-You meet some of the lamest people while traveling.

-International exchange programs should be subsidized by our government and a mandatory part of public high school.

-I am proud to be a U.S. Citizen. This is so different from travels past- thanks Barack.

-Watching Pirates of the Caribbean with Spanish subtitles is awesome.

-I heart Skype.

-Mosquitos suck.

-Mexican food really is wayyyy better down here.

-Everything tastes great with fresh guacamole (even grasshoppers).

-I am very thankful that I was able to come here and have this experience.

Things I'm Looking Forward To:

-Keeping progressing with my level of proficiency in Spanish. I know I'll have to seek out opportunities- but I know they are out there.

-Spending the next two months with Phil, Ali, and Gabriella (and speaking Spanish with them).

I know I've probably said it over and over, but I am so grateful for this opportunity to spend two months with the Atlanta Crew. I just know how rare it is to get this kind of time together. 

-Seeing Caroline in New Orleans- sharing time and that magical place together. Caroline- for those of you who don't know her- is a wonderful woman I met in Moscow from the desert of Arizona who continues to bring sun to my life even when miles away.

-Looking for a place for my first year in Tennessee. I'm really hoping I can find someplace that isn't ridiculously priced, close enough to ride my bike, good natural light, that has some soul. It's out there.

-Playing disc on Phil's team- they are so crazy into it that I've already been getting tons of emails and I haven't met a single one of them (nor do I have turf shoes).

-Being able to pick up the phone and call whoever I want, whenever I want.

-Being back home.

Talk to you all soon.

Thanks be to Three Rivers

Gifts come wrapped in strange packages.

Last night I was laying down to spleep at the early hour of 9 pm, glad to be in a bed, and glad that the weather here in Mexico city is chilly enough to require more than just a sheet. The only thing the I noticed earlier in the day about the sleeping situation is that the bed is just barely long enough. No problem- I employed the same diagonal sleeping strategy I've used for the past month. I'm laying there just getting ready to sink into the sea, when the old familiar high pitched hum begins (seriously- how do they time it such that it's like always right before you are getting ready to nod off?). Mosquitos.

Being my exhausted and slightly sick self, I was not in the mood to be expending any extra energy hunting down the suckers. So I did the pull-the-sheet-over-the-head move. That worked for about as long as I could reasonably breathe- all of five minutes. Seriously, how do people actually pull this one off- my bunkmate was fast asleep with the covers over his face looking like a corpse (exactly the image I had of myself had I continued the technique). Then I opted for the pure mind over mosquito technique. This technique is a lot like when you're camping and your cozied up in your bag and at like 6 am you feel your bladder starting to chirp at you, but you just tell yourself that your fine. What ends up happening of course is that you realize you were a moron to have that thought in the first place and you end up looking for a real solution. Obviously the solution to the latter problem is a bit more straightforward.

So then being so pissed that the conundrum I had worked so hard to control (my room in my host home was my own and I made sure the windows and door stayed shut at all times)- was back. I mean I'm sharing the room with like 5 other dudes and when I showed up, the windows were open, and at the time it felt good. Now it was like 10:30pm and I was seriously having thoughts about splurging for the private room in which, presumably, I could control the mosquito problem. However, after slowing down and thinking about it- I realized that assumption could very well be false and then I would have re-packed my stuff, moved rooms, and paid twice as much money for the same piece of poop. Then a voice spoke to me.

The voice said, "dude- you totally have a mosquito net in your backpack from that time at three rivers sam gave you the extra one he had". Something like that anyway. A smile replaced my previously furled brow. I went into the backpack, doing my best to not make a ton of noise (but not really caring that much at this point), and after digging through the first layer of clothes found the Green Goblin (that's what I'm calling him). A perfect little elastic band stitched around a nice thin layer of mesh and...army green. Money.

The mosquitos continued their assault- carrying on as if nothing had happened. But after several foiled attempts, they simply went north for my bunkmate (poor bastard, I could hear him swatting away until sleep finally came). But before I totally went off to dream land and I thought about how the Green Goblin had made its way from the mountains of Montana from the backpack of one of my former students, to allowing me to sleep for at least several hours here in Mexico City. Thanks be to Three Rivers.

Well, it's 9:30 am here and it's chilly wearing the sandals I've got. I must admit that I'm both pleasantly surprised and also somewhat bracing myself for the humidity and heat of Hotlanta.

Tomorrow morning at this time I'll be at the airport. Phil- keep the windows closed. Als and Gabi- get ready for some sweaty uncle Ike hugs and kisses. I'm thinking I'll do a bus tour of the city today- seems a good way to spend the day outside without exhausting my still somewhat sick and delicate flower self. 

Now I'm going to shave my pigote.

Safe and Mostly Sound

Well I'm here in Mexico City.

The bus ride was considerably better than the ride I took to Puerto Escondido- much shorter. I think we actually got in early- which is miraculous considering the traffic into Mexico City starts like 20 miles outside of the city. Plus, I got to watch dubbed versions of Stand by Me, Definitely Maybe, and some Disney Movie with Cuba Gooding Jr.- totally sweet. The only somewhat frustrating thing (though now it's just hilarious) was that because the last time I rode the "nice" bus it was freezing ass cold, this time I wore pants and brought an extra layer...it was hot in the bus. Funny. 

We pulled into Mexico City here at about 6pm and I made straight for the one hostel I knew about (the place I used the internet the last time I was here) which is right down in the Zocalo. The guy at the front desk was super helpful and even commented that my Spanish was good. I think he meant my pronunciation- but I'll take what I can get. Unloaded my crap and promptly laid down for a nap. I woke up with a scratch in my throat and was a bit snotty and low on energy when I woke up. The bed felt great- though I did do a thorough search of the room for the thinnest pillow. I'm already looking forward to bed.

It was nice to see that people here are no longer wearing the face masks they were when I first showed up. I think due to my being a pinch sick on top of my already delicate nature- I will be doing something simple like taking a bus tour of the city or something. Mostly I'm just getting really excited to be home.

 

Moving on to Mexico City

Just a quick update-

I'm heading out for Mexico city today in about 55 minutes. I have my passport. 

I fly back on Wednesday at noon from Mexico City to Atlanta. 

Love to you all-