Sacrifices

So, today I indulged in a a pedicure. Only my second in the twenty-three plus years that I've been alive. Then, my family took me out for some lovely cuisine at one of our favorite restaurants. I've decided that it is definitely worth me eating as well as possible in the next eight days before I leave for staging in Philadelphia. After all, there are a lot of things that I will be living without for the next two years, and I'm pretty sure that this indulgence is not selfish.

I had a tremendously thought provoking conversation with my sister, Tia, and my mom the other day. We were sipping iced tea and discussing the fact that I wanted to use her new panini grille to make goat cheese sandwiches before I leave. She said to me:

"Lib, it's like you're going to jail."

I said, "Explain."

"Just think of all the things you're giving up to do this thing. You can't take showers, you'll have no electricity, you can't have cheese or ice cream . . . "

I reminded her that in jail they have electricity and they take showers, as far as I know anyway. It will be a bummer to live without the electricity necessary to keep cheese and ice cream cold. (I laughed at the guy who sold me my CamelBak hydration system - he was explaining that the mouth is wide so you can put lots of ice cubes in it - I hope that wasn't rude.)

My sister continued: "You'll have no heat when it is cold and no fans or A.C. when it is hot. You're giving up everything!"

My mother chimed into the conversation: "Except what she wants to do with her life."

I was so appreciative of my mothers perspective. After all, she was the hardest to convince that Peace Corps service was right for me. She's come a LONG way since late December. She knows that this is important to me and now she's really supportive. My parents are even discussing coming for a visit - a big deal for my parents, whose only trip outside of North America was to visit me in Cape Town, South Africa.

For all of the sacrifices that I am making (particularly the sacrifice of being away from my family so long) I expect to be generously rewarded with a million amazing experiences. The way I see it, I can spend the next several days unselfishly rewarding myself with pedicures and goat cheese paninis.