Countdown to Argentina - 2 weeks!

Two weeks from today I will be landing in Buenos Aires, Argentina and embarking on a month of adventures!

I'm at the point now where I'm as ready as I'll ever be. There are things I want to do and need to do in the next two weeks, and I could certainly stand to have more money and know more Spanish, but there comes a point when it's time to go - ready or not. I learned this last year and discovered that although I panicked to get the house completely spotless before I left, there was still cleaning to do when I got home, and although I scrambled to accomplish things for people and organizations I'm involved with, they all survived just fine without me for awhile. Basically - I'm not quite as important as I like to think I am.

Jake is entirely capable of fending for himself for a month (even if he DOES forget to clean the bathroom) and Cecelia and Vivian are well cared-for and happy staying with my mom and in-laws. We will all miss each other, but we will all have a lot of fun and have great stories to tell when we're back together. So this time around I am not as worried about the other people in my life.

I am also not as worried about myself. I learned last summer that in less than one week in Mexico I had figured out enough Spanish to have a reasonable conversation, take a cab, order dinner, and buy a cell-phone. Being immersed in a language I hardly know is intimidating and sometimes overwhelming but it's also really fun and interesting. I also learned that even though I love my family and miss them very much when we are apart, it does not prevent me from having fun without them.

Almost everything about going to Argentina will be different than going to Mexico, but the key lessons I learned about myself and my family from last summer's experience remain. Am I nervous? Of course I am! Do I have an insanely long to-do list? You better believe it! But still, I feel ready in the ways that are most important and am confident that the rest will fall into place.