The Joy of Giving, The Joy of Leaving.

As most of you know, I had to leave Antarctica on short notice. I thought I was going to pack all of Thursday and then fly out Friday at 2pm. Unfortunately, someone broke their leg and needed to be medivac'd out sooner. Therefore, I found out on 4pm Wednesday that I'd have fly the next day at 6pm. That left me one night to get everything done.

Over the year, you transform your room to make it more comfortable. You have to undo all those transformations. You have to clean the entire room. You have to return anything that was lent to you. You have to lend your own stuff out that you don't want to take with you, but want back. You have to find good homes for the stuff that you just can't justify taking off the ice. You need to decide what goes in skua (i.e. goodwill) and what will go to a specific friend. Lots of stuff goes out to friends, but you need to find those friends to give them stuff. It is a wonderfully chaotic time. When I was trying to do my room cleaning, Brian and Katie were doing the smart thing of just having a yard sale in their room for friends to come take stuff.

Obviously, I'm not on the ice anymore, so I got everything packed. I think one of my main beneficiaries of stuff was Bamma. She is either a pack rat or all of our tastes line up. I don't care which. I'm just glad she took so much from me. Thanks, Bamma! Having to rush didn't allow me to process that I was leaving the Ice or say goodbye to everyone. I've been figuring that out as I go. It has been interesting.


Seeing Bamma's face explains the joy of giving.