Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Ghana Bound

It's here! It's Ghana time!

The past 24 hours have been quite interesting. I woke up yesterday morning feeling excited and anxious to get all my little last minute things done.

I spent most of the day hanging out with Craig, Ashlea, Laura, Addie, Whit, Teddy and Tyler. We did hair, shared lunch, Teddy composed a theme song titled "Theme Song for Infinity Man", taught Addie how to pull hair through a frosting cap and an assortment of other fun activities.

Later in the day I headed home to finish off the packing. Naturally there had to be some drama mixed into the day (not that Teddy's composing and Addie learning to pull hair is not drama). A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned to Ashlea that I needed a suitcase and she offered me the use of theirs. My initial reaction was sure, that's great! but as I considered that I decided it might not be such a good idea because there luggage is really nice and had been a wedding gift. I was concerned it would get too beaten up. So Addie went out with me one day and we luggage shopped. A few days later Ashlea saw the new luggage and insisted that I use one of theirs. Tom had an old one he has had since college days so I decided okay I'll return the new one and use Tom's. It seemed to be working out fine until yesterday at 6:00pm when I attempted to zip it closed and you guessed it - the zipper broke! So we made an emergency run to Target, purchased another suitcase and hurried back home to switch every thing over. I'm just reminded that no matter how much we plan sometimes things just happen!

Zippers and I have quite a history. When I was a teenager I had two friends who were sisters, one a year older than the other. The older sister was married one June and the younger sister the very next summer. I was a bridesmaid in both the weddings. The younger sister decided to use the same dresses for her bridesmaids. The decision was made for us to dress at the church and so at the last minute I slipped my dress on, reached back to zip it up and you guessed it, the zipper broke. Thankfully, my mom was present and found a package of straight pins. She pinned me up and I went through the entire wedding and reception straight pinned up! Quite uncomfortable but it worked.

Today will be a day of waiting. We are waiting in the Charlotte airport for an 11:30 am flight to JFK where we will then wait for a 5:30pm flight to Accra, Ghana. We are scheduled to arrive in Ghana around 8:30 tomorrow morning (local time) which will be 4:30am here on the east coast.

We had a fun night last night at Dave and Anita's, laughing and talking about their past adventures in Ghana and the adventures we anticipate in the next two weeks. I don't think there was a lot of sleeping going on but we're all so excited I think we'll survive. I've decided I picked a great group to travel with on my first trip to Africa!

3 comments:

ashlea said...

So excited - can't wait for more updates and photos!

Craig said...

Thanks for sharing & keeping me up to date! I am with you in heart!

Craig and Becky said...

You guys are wonderful - Lots of love and hugs and kisses!