My New Reality.

I first heard about the trip last fall when Ken pitched it to his Urban Community class, and for the last ten months, this has been a distant spot on my horizon. All of the essays, the interviews, the meetings and preparation that went into this trip helped me wrap my head around it, but it never felt real.

When I was accepted into the class and a group of us got together and celebrated being chosen, we all took moments to say “Oh wow…this is happening”. But even with the acceptance letter on my screen, it didn’t feel real.

When we started to meet as a group and picked cities and pitched ideas and filled in the details, it felt like a clearer picture was forming in my head, but it didn’t feel real.

I took on an independent study for Ken as a research assistant, so the last few weeks leading up to the trip were consumed with trip logistics. Hotels, and showers, and itineraries, and marketing memos and, and, and…. Being a part of the planning process was amazing, and I loved working with the school to finish up the program, but it still felt like someone else’s trip. I had ownership over the details, I was a part of the team, but the idea of getting on a bus and driving around the country seemed so foreign, so distant from my world.

When I talked with contacts in New Orleans and they bid me farewell with “I’ll see you a week from Monday!” my heart raced to keep up with the immediacy of that casual good-bye. But it still didn’t feel real. When Emily and I realized that we’d be in Los Angeles ten days from now, we both squealed and had a moment of panic. But it still didn’t seem to be happening.

The load-in was a flurry of doors opening and closets being filled, beds being shoved with every possible necessity and drawers shoved to capacity with shoes and air freshener. We checked and double-checked our luggage. We grilled our driver (Reuben) with questions of past tours and safety tips and elaborate ways for us to be killed in a bus crash.

We never stopped moving, until at last, the drawers were full, Rueben was given permission to go, and we all sat still for a moment looking at each other. The ambient engine noises changed and suddenly the sky outside started to move.

Pierce looked at me and said, “We’re moving."

And suddenly it feels real.

Whoa.