The Last of the Lasts

      This is the last night in my childhood home for at least ten months. That alone is mind-boggling enough to give me great pause, let alone taking into account everything else that has, is, and is going to be happening in the space of 24 hours. In these hours I have packed, made final preparations, and will say my final good byes to my family at the airport before taking off for events and lands unknown. This is my swan song for now to Akron, to Ohio, and to the United States of America. However, this is also the first of the firsts, a virtual new beginning. First flight alone, first time meeting the rest of AFS CBYX, first time meeting the other AFS Americans going to Germany I have talked to over the past few months, the first time flying over the Atlantic, the first time in Europe, the first time in Germany! Then the firsts will cascade into a non-stop avalanche, until, at some point they will cease to be firsts, and begin to again become lasts. This exchange is a journey, and journeys are cycles. But for now, I cannot prognosticate on those or these events that are ever coming; I must live them. And that is the nature of this beast. Now. Now we go forth into the unknown.