Departure

I take a photo of my backyard on my phone. Click. 

My last few hours at home. 

It seems like only a few days ago that I came home from another year at University. Now I am leaving again. And I am excited, nervous, and a whole range of other emotion, all of which I am experiencing at the same time. Sometimes it gives me a headache.

I am now counting down the hours! I will be off on what I hope will be a whirlwind adventure on Wednesday. Packing was a bit of nightmare. It seemed like I had packed and re-packed over a dozen times, checking and re-checking to make sure I had all the things I needed, in addition to tickets, insurance and other documents I need to have with me. 

It doesn't seem real yet.

Last week I was plagued by sleepless and somewhat panicked nights. I kept on thinking of all the things I needed to do and all the things that I knew about where I was going and what I would see when I got there. I was also thinking a lot about what I would feel or what I should feel when I arrived.

When I was middle school a man came to speak to our youth group about his experiences growing up in Israel and Palestine. He was just a kid when the First Intifada began. He had friends on both sides and he spoke about how people had come together to try and protect each other. There was a photograph that he showed us that has been stuck in my mind ever since. It was a photo of himself as a boy, ringing a bell in a church in Jerusalem. He was ringing the bell to celebrate when the Palestinians and the Israelis signed a tentative peace agreement at the time. Ringing the bell. Announcing the peace.

Ever since that day I have been infatuated with Israel and Palestine, the people, the history, the conflict, the prospects for peace.

I am ecstatic now that I have an opportunity to finally witness this place that I have learned and written about. This very old place…

With me I carry a copy of the United Nations Charter that Dr. Hans von Sponeck, the former UN Assistant Secretary General gave to me when he visited my University campus this past winter. In the jacket he wrote, “Chris, it can work.” He was speaking about the possibility for a global justice, a common peace. I hope he is right.

My parents anxiety trumps my own. You can never a tell a parent not to worry, and they are pretending that they aren't...but you can just tell. I keep reminding them that I am a seasoned traveler, that I have been to jungles and desert by myself and been safe. But, in truth, I am telling them mostly to reassure myself...  

Tomorrow I will be getting on a plane, with my MEC backpacks, my laptop, my Lonely Planet guide and phrasebook. One excited, scared and hopeful kid from Alberta, on a journey to the Holy Land.

Here I go.