For those of you who aren't Mspace junkies, I'm having a going away party this Saturday. It will be held at Amanda and Joel's house around eight, and everyone should come. Yay!

I'm too nervous about everything to be excited about Sufjan just yet. I wake up in the morning with my stomach in knots and my mind racing about everything that needs to be done before I leave. The good-bye process started up this week with some of my favorite families. The comic book family gave me a beautiful leather passport holder and lots of hugs. The twins family had a bon voyage dinner for me last week, and the grandparents drove out from Seaside to be there. It is the strangest thing to say to someone, "well... I guess I'll see you in a few months."

Especially with the twins. Over the past two years I have spent more time with them than anyone else, and more time at their house than my own. The last two times that I saw them my heart ached at how much I will miss them, and how much I do already. They are planning on going out with me to the airport, and I am going to cry.

A friend gave me a book, and in the second chapter the author says, "Is there anything as horrible as starting on a trip? Once you're off, that's all right, but the last moments are earthquake and convulsion, and the feeling that you are a snail being pulled off your rock."