Departure Day

Thirty nine years ago, I left my family, friends and neighborhood, with a one week old college diploma, on a bus to Ft. Dix, New Jersey to learn how to become a soldier “Greetings. You are hereby ordered to report for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States…” was the salutation that every draft eligible young man dreaded to receive, and I had received mine several months earlier. I carried no baggage or belongings, as directed, and wondered how much longer troops would be active in Viet Nam.

Today, I again left my family, friends and neighborhood on another adventure, but this time I am fortunately going as a volunteer in a somewhat different capacity with a considerable amount of baggage and belongings. Many of the things I finally squeezed into two fifty pound suitcases didn’t even exist on my first adventure: then: the Internet, Skype, laptop computer, digital camera, LED lights, Gortex, Thinsulate, wrinkle-free pants and shirts, fleece jackets, and multi-blade razors. What a difference almost forty years makes.

We left for the Manchester airport at 5AM so I could catch a 7:15 flight to Philadelphia. My two sons, Christian and Jesse, accompanied Lee and me and were planning to go to their jobs later in the morning. It was nice having them at the airport. They were able to mock my not-the- right –shade-of blue blue jeans, my hiking boots that I had to wear into order to put more stuff in the suitcase and meet the luggage weight restrictions, and my low- maintenance short haircut. My confidence in how I looked was bolstered to an all-time high.

With the exception of minor weather delay, the trip to Philly went smoothly and was uneventful. I am sitting in the lobby of the hotel, writing this log and trying to kill three hours until our first meeting. No rooms are ready for occupancy, so no freshening up until later on this evening.