Parenthetical.net

In just a few hours, I will board a plane, the first in a circuitous series of transportation that will land me in Ho, Ghana, not to return until July 25. The words “holy shit” come to mind (and in fact have been coming to mind on a fairly regular basis lately). Like with everything else off the beaten path of degrees and jobs and stable adult life, it’s taken me a little longer than most to get here. I never did anything like this in college or right after. Even on my year off from college, I stayed in Providence; I was always afraid that if I left my life might not be there when I got back. I did tool around Central and Eastern Europe for 3 weeks during that year off, but I spent too much of it in internet cafes, trying to stay connected with what I was missing at home.

Now, at 27, I’m a little older than it’s expected one will be when having this sort of adventure (as evidenced by the fact that I couldn’t find a grant - silly late bloomer, grants are for people under 23!). The up side to this is that I have Expertise now. I have a Career (with some real value in the developing world, even) and an Advanced Degree. I’m ready to think big in a way that I wasn’t 5 years ago about things like creating a partnership between DIVOG and my school, returning on a semi-regular basis to help set up village libraries, writing articles about the trip, etc.

But of course, the bigger up side - the thing that makes this emotionally possible for me - is that I have the stable life that felt so tenuous before. In 1999 3 weeks in Europe with regular email access felt like forever, and I was too scared to do more; now a month in a much stranger and more distant place feels do-able. I will always be a homebody, but the more secure I am in my home, the longer I can leave it and trust that it will still be here for me when I return.

Ambition is what keeps you moving
When your heart wants to pull you back home
You gotta run when God makes you an offer
You gotta go if someone shows you how to go
- “Superior,” Girlyman

This is one hell of an offer, so I gotta go. Enjoy the first half of summer without me, beloved city o’ mine.

(Contacting me while I’m gone might be hard, but it might also be easier than I think. If you want me to actually see the email while I’m gone, send it to both my usual address and BonneyAnne at Yahoo dot com. (I think a Yahoo address might be easier to check from random computers than Parenthetical, though I could be wrong about this…in any event, Bonney Anne is my spam account, so after this trip don’t send anything there that you want me to see.))