Less than one week now.

Its hard to believe that in less than one week I will be boarding an airplane by my lonesome to fly out to the complete other side of the country. At this point, I am half way packed, with all my modern clothing and items packed snugly in suitcase #1. And of course, my reenacting gear and period clothes are no where near being packed. There is a reasonable explanation for this, I assure you.

Having said goodbye to many of my friends yesterday at a graduation/goodbye party, the realization is finally starting to sink in, that this dream job and trip of a lifetime is actually happening. My world and mind have been such a blur in so many ways that I honestly haven't even focused on this trip and hopeful start to a career, what with school drawing to a close, living history jobs picking up, and other dramas of life. However, now that most of these are behind me, I can finally focus on this awesome trip.

I have been truly blessed recently, with three living history presentations for schools in the past two months, and another one on thursday, yes, the week that I leave. This has been my 'small business', to raise funds to go to the 150th anniversary reenactment of the battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania next year. This is rumored to be the biggest reenactment I will see in my lifetime, and I in no way intend to miss it. It will be awesome, because I will (Lord willing) be traveling with other members of my company, to meet up with our brother company that operates out of Maryland, so we will have the awesome opportunity of reenacting as ourselves, not some other unit.

Another bit of irony mixed with insanity in my life is the fact that there is a reenactment going on here in Oregon the weekend I leave. Of course, being the wool wearing, musket toting, powder burning nut that I am, there's no way I'm leaving Oregon without taking one more crack at Johnny Reb before leaving the left coast. So, that being the case, I've decided to go to one day of said reenactment the day that I leave, taking some of my very closest friends with me as a last huzzah before I take off for three months.

So any way, as I said, its hard to believe that 6 days from today I'll not be in my beloved Oregon for three months, and I'll be 3,000 miles away from everyone I know and care for. Weird feeling, to be sure. Any way, now the countdown really begins, its time to pack the last of my gear, do a presentation in the Portland metro area, go to a reenactment, then hop on my freedom bird to an amazing opportunity and hopefully, a new career. Indeed, I am hoping for this to be my first 'job' in this career, and if I am offered a full time job by Harpers Ferry NHP, or the NPS in general... chances are good that I would take it and thus stay out there. But needless to say, chances of that are rather small.

Any way, I'm off to enjoy this beautiful Oregon day, but I'll be back before I take off.