And it begins...

16:09. August 29, 2011. JFK International Airport
So I figured I might try this whole blog thing out. I don’t know how well it will work but I imagine there must be someone out there who wants to know what I’m up to in Italy (… or France, or England, or Prague or wherever this adventure takes me). This should be a nice way to share my stories; photos, thoughts and feelings with all of you back home.
So it begins: Murphy’s Law certainly had a hand in today’s events. Who would have thought that a massive hurricane would hit the tri-state area the day before my flight leaves? The last time a hurricane hit this area I was six years old. Anyone remember hurricane Gloria? I don’t but I can certainly cross Irene off of any future lists of baby names I might have. Yet, despite the natural disaster and all the complications, here I am at JFK with my flight to Rome all set to leave on time. And still, there is something missing. Oh right, my best friend and essentially my sister Lacey. This is why I think this is the perfect place and time to start this blog; perhaps it is all part of the plan that Lacey left her passport in Florida and that her flight was cancelled. Then again, perhaps it is just coincidence. Either way, this is my first lesson: Things don’t always go as planned. How many times do we have to learn this lesson before it finally sets in? I would love nothing more than to be sitting at this flight gate with my friend and roommate right now instead of writing this blog but it’s like the conversation with my dad went on the drive over, “Dad, I don’t like this, my stomach is in knots, Lacey was supposed to be here.” And with an air of fleeting serenity and the world’s calmest smile he simply said to me, “No. She wasn’t.” the bottom line is that I miss my friend and I love her and neither of us could have foreseen this, yet maybe there’s something to be learned in all of these collapsed plans, maybe it’s a lesson in patience, maybe it’s the universe’s way of giving us each a unique experience of the world, maybe it’s something beyond my realm of comprehension or maybe this story is still unfolding. One thing is for sure: I haven’t even left the airport yet.