So where the heck is Moldova???

So it is official!!! The Peace Corps has finally accepted me, and I'm off to Moldova. I have never considered myself as geographically challenged, but I did have to pull out the atlas, and read about Moldova. I have included the link for the Peace Corps, so you all can read up about my new home for the next few years. My departure date is February 24-26 for "staging" which happens stateside, and I will fly out on February 27th or so. Now the panic is starting to creep in about all that needs to get done, and how to do it all before I leave. I am more excited than anxious, but as with anything this big, there are so many competing emotions. And, of course, so much work to do to make sure that things go as smoothly here as they can in my absence. I can't even really process it here, it is almost too much.

The rest of my life is going along like there is no momentous change in the works. I was in Pennsylvania last week. I had a very scary, life-flashing-before-my-eyes experience on Rt. 78 in the middle of the night with 2 blown out tires on the passenger side of my car. I must have hit something because the rim of the front tire was broken and needed to be replaced. Thank goodness for cell phones and my wonderful brother-in-law, Bob, who made sure that I was well taken care of at the tire place. I don't like chaos and stress, and this was some of both. I called 911 when the tires blew, because I wasn't entirely off the highway, and those big rigs are out of control on a rainy night. It still spooks me to think about it. Anyway, all is fine now, although I confess that one of my first thoughts was, "Great, I finally hear from the Peace Corps, and now I'll be dead!!" Oh, the drama of it all.

In Pennsylvania, I spent time getting the car looked at, spending over $400 in getting that business taken care of, and hanging out with Linnea. She is stressing about my leaving. She has made such good progress at the house. She really has a lot to be proud of. I left on Tuesday morning and went to Long Island to do a Supervisor's Seminar on case management. This is an opportunity that came to me as a Board Member of the National Association of Case Management. I have to say that it was just a bit surreal to be introduced as a "national expert" in the field, and not have been able to have kept my job in case management at Sweetser. I have to think it says as much about Sweetser, though, as it does of me. No sour grapes, really, but there still is a disconnect for me. I know things happen for a reason, and I have to just live with that. Besides, I'm going to Moldova. How cool is that??? I am going to take a laptop, which the PC suggests, so I will be able to keep in touch with you all.

I need to talk to someone more techno savvy than myself (Bob Myers, maybe??) to help me figure out the blog/myspace connection, along with other tips that anyone might have on getting a laptop that will work with a 220 adapter. I'm not sure that I will be able to have a cell phone that works, but I will feel pretty connected if I can email everyone. See, I'm already stressing a bit about the minutiae of it all.....I need to let it go...

I'm still waiting to hear from Betsy about her baby, figuring out my days and nights of work between two jobs. On a really happy personal note, I did hear back from someone I thought I wouldn't hear from again, and that made me feel warm and fuzzy.