A Vicarious Life

Sanjay and I are now sitting in the Laptop Lane at the O'Hare airport preparing to board the first international leg of our trip - to London Heathrow. We just had our last American meal for a while - milk shakes and burgers from Steak and Shake, followed by a delicious dessert of Hot & Now donuts from Krispy Kreme. My tummy hurts. Isn't America great?

Our culinary expedition through suburban Chi-town was led by my best friend from high school, the somewhat notorious Janet Tarver, who was kind enough to meet us here - where she currently lives and works for Funken's favorite airline, United.

In spite of the unpleasant residual effects from our meal, I, for one, am psyched. My quart size ziploc bag has made it through 2 security checkpoints intact. Only about 52 more to go before I make it home. More importantly, the day is finally here. We are going to Africa.

I think Sanj is excited too, although I can't be too sure. He's a little sick. But I've told the little camper to buck up, and he seems more willing than able.

We just found out about our volunteer placements in Tanzania - Sanjay and I will both be working in small schools for young children in remote areas of Tanzania. I can't wait.

This is Sanjay typing now; from here on out, anytime you see orange text it's me speaking. So I've decided to usurp Stacey's blog instead of creating my own. And it's true, I think I got the bubonic plague right before we depart for Africa. Too many sick family members over the holidays but alas, I will survive. I did find out that I'll be working at a nursery for 3-6 year old kids - let the corruption of youth begin. What were they thinking? ;) Anyways, I am going to get another dose of Airborne now - I promise I'll be more entertaining the next time I blog.

I guess we'll sign off for today, but we'll probably catch up with you again in London.

And, because I can't sign off without some deep, meaningful comment - here's what I came up with yesterday while I was driving my car from errand to errand. Yesterday I determined that my journey, like most, is a prayer of sorts - a prayer that I might find God in the faces of strangers and then find my way back home to the often unrecognized divinity that I'm leaving (and I'm not just saying that Millie's a goddess, though that's true) . . .

Well, I tried - I suppose today isn't a deep and meaningful kind of a day. More of an adrenaline-filled sugar rush that has incapacitated my more introspective sensibilities. Maybe tomorrow.

By the way, in our absence, we are leaving it up to each of you to make absolutely certain that our blog is one of the most popular in the world upon our return. It's a big challenge, but we know you can handle it. That leaves each of you with three responsibilities:

1) Post comments liberally because, in truth, is Sanjay REALLY going to be that entertaining for 60+ days worth of entries? [Hey, I resent that.]

2) Post links to our blog from any and every blog and/or site you own.

3) Forward us to anyone you know who might need a vicarious life.