September 5

8 days until I fly to Budapest.

Preparing for the trip has been interesting. I decided in February to take an 8 week sabbatical from Open Arms Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) to travel to Eastern Europe to act as a resource to the MCC pastor there. I bought my tickets in March.

It seemed like it was far away as the months have gone by and as we have prepared for church leadership in my absence. Now, it's not far away.

Getting ready has been harrowing. How does one pack for a trip of two months? I guess the same as one would pack for a week. My struggle is to find the balance between too much and too little.

My first false start was in choosing a suitcase. I found one on line at a good price that seemed just right. After all 28" doesn't sound very big, does it? When my regular UPS guy arrived with it - I was shocked. It's big enough for me to fit into!!!

At this point, I have finished my shopping and am ready to pack the suitcase. And I wait - I'm really ready to go.