THUNDER CATS ARE GO!

In two hours I'll be on a plane headed to my favorite place on earth. I could faint thinking about it. A fire has started in my chest and I know I will never be the same.

Amazing

Ever heard of a lip dub?

Apparently it's a video of hundreds of people singing along and dancing to a song together with the original song playing over. I've seen some really cool ones on youtube this year that have resulted in engagements or pregnancy announcements, etc. 

This one is BY FAR the best yet.

I have been revived. Watching this video felt like home. I CAN'T WAIT TO GET THERE. 

Also, it's inspired me to try and do a lip dub with the kids. What song would I do? How would I record it? Hey, this sounds like a great challenge.

The lyrics?

It's not about the money, money, money
We don't need your money, money, money
We just wanna make the world dance
Forget about the price tag

Ain't about the cha-ching, cha-ching about the yah
Ain't about the ba-bling, ba-bling
Wanna make the world dance
Forget about the price tag

We need to take it back in time
When music made us all unite
And it wasn't low blows and video hoes
Am I the only one gettin' tired?

Why is everybody so obsessed?
Money can't buy us happiness
Can we all slow down and enjoy right now
Guarantee we'll be feelin' alright

Everybody look to their left
Everybody look to their right
Can you feel that? Yeah
We'll pay them with love tonight

Yes. Pay the world with love.

Pre-Flight Jitters

I leave for Uganda on Sunday and I have a confession to make.

I am terrified.

I am terrified of what it will feel like 2 months from now when I am back here sitting in this cubicle again. I wonder if I've just set myself up for the greatest heart break I've experienced yet?

Last time I came home from Uganda it took me a few months to adjust to being back. I had a hard time purchasing nice things. I had a hard time enjoying restaurants and alcohol. I struggled to pick up old friendships where they left off. I hated television shows and song lyrics and thought the latest trends were idiotic. I rolled my eyes at headlines and billboards and fast food commercials. I felt spoiled. And selfish. And undeserving. This American, backwards, consumerist lifestyle wasn't fitting me anymore. I was having a hard time fitting in where I'd called home for 23 years.

My friends noticed a big difference in me as well. It was hard to carry conversation past small talk. There weren't words to convey what I was feeling. Weeks simply went by and I slowly recovered as the human mind tends to do for itself with time. I got my first teaching job and dove face-first into my work and my love for students. I slowly became American again. But I never lost that ache.

I don't know what I am going to do when I get back from this trip. There's a hard lump formed in my throat as I write this. How do you live with your feet in separate places? How you do make both halves of you content? How could I justify my lifestyle while my best friends were searching for food?

My biggest fear? That my homecoming in December will only be to box up my apartment and sell my car and get back on a returning flight.