It has been an absolutely tumultuous week. It\u2019s bothersome that I can\u2019t write about all of it because eventually I will be discovered. It is bound to happen. But what I can divulge is my thoughts about joining Peace Corps. I\u2019ve all but decided to do it. Every conversation I have makes me incrementally more sure that it is what I want to do. I had dinner last night with Carole and another couple who went to Peace Corps ten years ago- when they were in their very early 40\u2019s. They sold their house, business, and cars, and packed up to go to South America. Their story is certainly unique, as is every story from folks who make this ridiculous choice. They also had electricity and running water and privacy- things I will certainly not have. But then they came home and utterly reinvented themselves. They decided where they wanted to live and what they wanted to do and then they made it happen. Pretty incredible.<\/p>\n
I still have doubts, certainly, and I feel no pressure for this to be arbitrary. If I get on that plane to Mauritania, it will be because it is exactly what I want to do, not because I\u2019ve simply decided to do it. But the thought of waking up every morning there and working every day there and meeting people I never would have met and putting my hands in the African dirt\u2026 and no, I am not romanticizing it. I am well aware of: AIDS, malaria, a hole in the ground for a toilet, no electricity, pulling water from a well to wash, no friends or family, no choices but to do what it is I\u2019m supposed to do that day. I am pretty sure I\u2019ll get pretty sick. Almost everyone does. Pretty sure I\u2019ll be lonely and scared and sad and exhausted. Pretty sure I\u2019ll have days when I think of that Saturday in the sunshine with my friends by my dad\u2019s pool overlooking the Napa Valley and I\u2019ll wonder what the hell I\u2019m doing in Mauritania. But the call to go is so multi-faceted, so strong, so exciting, so deep down right and good that I have to follow it. I have to go to Africa, even.<\/p>\n
So in the meantime? Before I have to make that decision to step on that plane? I live here and make the best of it. And, I mean, clearly there is a lot of \u201cbest\u201d to make. And I\u2019d like to take a week and not think or talk about Peace Corps. I need to get away from it in my head or I\u2019ll never see clearly to make the right choice.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It has been an absolutely tumultuous week. It\u2019s bothersome that I can\u2019t write about all of it because eventually I will be discovered. It is bound to happen. But what I can divulge is my thoughts about joining Peace Corps. I\u2019ve all but decided to do it. Every conversation I have makes me incrementally more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlwms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlwms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlwms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlwms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlwms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mlwms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlwms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlwms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlwms.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}