It’s the last day of 2014, and I am in a reflective mood as we prepare to leave for Morocco in exactly two weeks.  My brain space around our upcoming departure vacillates from excitement to fear every six-to-eight minutes.  At this moment I am excited, but by the time I am finished writing this post I may have moved into fear-mode.

Thomas, on the other hand, seems much more settled around all the upcoming changes.  While I have spent way too much time thinking about how best to pack for the move (two pairs of pajama bottoms or three? Three boxes of tampons or five?  Do we really need a dozen calendars to give as gifts?), my husband seems quite unconcerned about what to bring.  I at times envy his seemingly laissez faire attitude around leaving the United States for two years (and now I’ve moved into a more fearful head-space.  But don’t worry, I should be back to excitement in just a few minutes.).

Since our return from Europe we have been part of lots of gatherings with friends and family.  We went to Vancouver Island for stretch of days in mid-November, followed by a weekend in Bellingham, and it was a very rich week of visiting people we love.  Kahlil came to Seattle from WSU for both Thanksgiving break and winter break, and it’s been great to have time with him.  My amazing aunt, Ruth Ann, also came to visit and we had an excellent time sharing both past family stories and considering what the future may hold for all of us.  Truly, the mish-mash Hanukkah-Christmas holidays were overall excellent.  Amen to that.

This weekend my mother and I will be in Victoria, and I feel very grateful to have the chance for one last visit with my Dad and others before departing.  Next week includes many planned dinner gatherings with people in Seattle, including a (low key) birthday party for Thomas on the 8th, and a final Shabbos meal on Friday the 9th.  We then depart for Philadelphia on Sunday the 11th, where all the Peace Corps trainees (we are not officially volunteers until after our training period in Morocco) meet for a day of orientation before our flight to Casablanca on January 13th.  I suspect our next blog post will be written from Morocco (and I am back to feeling excited!!).

Alright.  That’s all I shall write for now.  May the start of 2015 bring all of you only good things!  And do stay in touch!  We have new email addresses, as well as Google Voice numbers.  They are as follows:

[email protected]  1-774-295-0293

[email protected]  1-360-389-3816

Blessings,

Erika