craziest nine months continued...
i had to fly out in two days and i madly scrambled to get ready. ok, no problem, only my passport was about to expire.
here's a screenshot of my passport photo - i had to fill out the application, get three references, take photos, get my shots and get back to the passport office before 4 pm - all of this with no guarantee that my passport would be renewed in time for my flight to kenya. it's not obvious, but there's a subtle terror beneath those eyes.
anyways, i did manage to get it done and though it killed me to make min endure yet another absence, i was off. it took two days to get there, but i arrived with felix's best friend, mitchell and we paid our respects.
in some ways, what an amazing opportunity to visit kenya. i met some awesome people there and went to a part of the world i never thought i would have an opportunity to visit and yet all of it came at such a cost.
july 2011 - months ago we had planned a trip to both virginia to reconnect with family and friends and edmonton to attend my cousin's wedding. given all that had happened, these trips were actually really looking like a great way to get some perspective from all that was happening in vancouver. yes, it meant more travel for me, but at least it was together with min.
min's family was waiting for us in virginia and they created an amazingly relaxed atmosphere for us to just decompress and rest after a tumultuous past few months. we were even able to take a short road trip to new york city. we ate our way around the city thanks to our friend diana.
mmmm.... momofuku, artichoke pizza, shake shack, lombardi's, empenada mama, num pang, clinton street baking, cafe habana -- NOM! we tried twice, unsuccessfully to get tickets to the book of mormon, but we did get to see the lion king. we shall return, though!
with min's family, we took another road trip, this time to baltimore, md. for fans of the tv show, the wire, let me just say that the rest of baltimore is actually quite pretty and charming, especially the harbor area. i've decided not to post the picture where i'm wearing a t-shirt that is too tight for me and was taken right after we ate a crab buffet.
anyways, on to the point of this story - it was during our trip to virginia that we were able to get the space and time we needed to process all that had happened. we had both seen counselors at different times to try and work through the events of the past few months, we felt like we were in no position to jump into a bunch of major life decisions. with the counsel and wisdom of many good friends and the extended time together, it was during this trip that we first proposed the idea of taking a sabbatical together. when the idea first came up it immediately felt right. we decided to sit on it a little while though and see how we felt in a few weeks. ultimately we would decide to take the sabbatical (the best decision we ever made), but i don't know if we would have made that decision had we not taken this trip together.
well, the rest is history. you can read about our sabbatical updates in previous blog entries. i just wanted to bring everyone up to speed before writing about what's coming up next.
to be continued...
