Lamentable Day ...sad June

Boys are crazy...not getting into it...

So I'm here at my desk on an ABSOLUTELY gorgeous day and making all of the final arrangements for the Peru Mission trip and hand writing luggage tags for all of the extra bags of clothes and supplies that will be going down there with the group next week. This will be the first time since these trips started 3 years ago, that I won't be joining the group. I know it is for the best and I need to get better and deal with this stupid disease right now, but part of my soul is so depressed...to not see those faces of the orphans, to not be in the mountains of Peru in June...I don't know what to do with myself...Digging ditches is my specialty. i will miss the comradarie within the group, especially the teens that go for this life changing experience. I have made so many lifelong friends, American and Peruvian...and even Austrailian and Croatian aquantainces along the way...thank goodness for Facebook to keep in touch!!!
I will miss the long walks in the Plaza de Armas at night when it is all lit up, and the ruins of Macchu Picchu. I will miss the masses in the hotel and at the orphange. I will miss the Maximo Nivel staff and seeing my friends Paul, Irina, Heidi, Eliza, Ramone, Alcides, and Vanessa. I will even miss bargaining with the shop keepers at the artisenal and 'sketchy mart'. But mostly I will miss the children at Azul Wasi orphanage in Orapesa. That place holds such a place in my heart. I am forever changed for having worked and lived there the past few summers.
Fr. Michael said, "You can bring your medicine and we can check with more doctors if you still want to come." But I know I have to stay home this time. My ticket CAN be used in the future and I need to be at least at half strength when we go to Steubenville in July for the teen conference.

So, to avoid feeling sad about not being where the action is...I am making a list of things I will NOT miss about this trip.
1. the 29 hour travel days there and back
2. the lost luggage
3. the travel clinic with used needles, exploding space heaters, and thinking I am going to die in South America
4. the Altitude
5. Cuy for dinner (roast guinea pig)
6. the smell of roasting llama
7. getting stuff lifted by grifters
8. taxi drivers of death
9. the smell on the bus
10. the smell at the llama farm
11. cold showers or no showers
12. spending money
13. teenagers misbehaving :(
14. no sleep


Ah well though...I still wish I was going....