letters to my brother...

Dear Nathan,

I have arrived. I'm feeling quite loopy due to the lack of sleep on the plane and the extent of the flight, but it was quite nice. British Airways does not charge you for your food and despite the fact that I failed to phone ahead to request a vegetarian meal, they found an extra for me for both dinner and breakfast.

I wrote some notes in my journal after a couple of hours of sleep in an uncomfortable position:

Day 1: Somewhere over Greenland

I suppose I shouldn't question whether or not this adventure had already started. It seemed to have begun when I agreed to be the "official photographer" for OAR Northwest. Meeting them, getting to know their families and their girlfriends, experiencing the amazing amount of support and sense of community- it's all been an adventure. Now I'm on a British Airways plane on my way to England for 5 weeks. I've met people via the Internet on Couchsurfing.com who are willing and pleased to host me without much knowledge of who I am part from ta profile I created only 2 weeks ago. I'm pleased to have this opportunity to meet all sorts of locals that are also willing to show me around a bit. One gentleman from Australia is actually meeting me at the airport to ensure that I arrive safely. I'm so grateful for the kindness of strangers who's only intention is to meet people and gain further insights from individuals of all parts of the world. My kind plane pal has ensured that if he doesn't hear from me in the next day he'll send the police after this guy. I don't believe it'll be necessary, but it's a lovely offer. He's an interesting fellow. I still don't have his name, but he struck me initially as a bit too brazen and arrogant in regards to his level of intellect, but I realized he's just trying to survive like the rest of us although his path has been a bit more unstable. I noticed a scar that stretched from his right ear down to his neck. H has a dry and seemingly uncomfortable cough that causes him to wince and keep sentences short. Upon asking him if he was alright, he confessed that he had parts of his lung removed as well as part of his tongue. He wasn't bashful about showing me the now unique shape of it. I believe he had cancer growths removed. I would know for sure had his experiences not made him an expert on all of the medical terms with which he's been afflicted. He first found out about his condition a week before final exams of his last year in college. I asked him how the news affected his exams and he proudly proclaimed that he graduated first of his class. He gave credit to God and his firm belief in Christianity because he couldn't give himself credit. Now 28, he travels the world as a software engineer. He inspires me not to pursue his field of course, but more so that I don't want to wait until some major ailment affects my body beofre I start testing the limits of my talent's capacity. I feel very humble by nature, but I could stand to be a bit more brazen in the way I view my place in the world.

I love you Nathan... I'll send you my phone number as soon as I get one.

Love,
your sister