Happy Pills in Hand

I leave for a medical mission trip in 3 days. I’m leaving the frozen tundra of the Midwest and I’m heading to the sunny shores of Jamaica, where I’ll spend 8 days working, playing, sunning, and soaking up the sunshine. Yeah, I’m trying not to rub it in – but I WILL be rubbing the suntan oil in just a few days….take THAT, Blizzard of 2009!

It’s the same trip I did a year ago – right at this time of year, in fact. There’s doctors, dentists, nursing students, pharmacists and support staff (like me!), and we work at a medical clinic in Falmouth, Jamaica…smack between Montego Bay and Ochos Rios on the northern shore of the island. We work hard – but we’ll play hard, too. I’ve learned that mission trips are all about the work – as well as the play. Both are very much needed.

I hate flying. Okay…hate is an awfully-strong word. How’s this…I LOATHE flying….better? However, yesterday I got my “happy pills” from the doctor, so I’m good to go. My happy pills allow me to get on and off the plane without having a panic-induced heart attack. They not only make me happy, but they make everyone around me happy so they don’t have to deal with the panic attacks. Some of my friends have had to “babysit” me on a plane – and it’s not pretty. Trust me on that. The happy pills help.

It didn’t help that the American Airlines plane crashed in Jamaica 10 days ago. Nope – that didn’t help at all. I’m flying American. To Jamaica. But I’ll be okay. I will. I have my happy pills and my faith. Between the two, I should be just fine.

My dilemma – do I take my laptop? Or not? I will not have internet access while there….However, I do like to journal while I travel. If I take my laptop, I can open up a word document each night and quickly type up the day’s events and thoughts and observations. If I don’t take it, I have to write. By hand. Which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I have a bit of carpel tunnel in my right hand, and holding a pen is very painful. So - what to do? What to do?

But – argh – the hassle in taking a laptop anymore through security.... Security, itself, is a bitch. The shoes…the liquids & gels…the metal detectors…and now, thanks to the Christmas Underwear Wannabe Bomber, security is going to be just that much more of a bitch. Thanks, dude. But – better safe than sorry.

Tomorrow, I’ll be blogging about packing. I have a challenge ahead of me – and it will be very interesting to see if I can rise to it and meet it. If you know me at all – you know I never back down from a challenge. ☺

I’ll be off-line for 8 days – no blogging. Ouch. I will certainly catch up when I get back – and post photos and stories and anecdotes from my adventures. So don’t leave me. Be sure to come back and visit – I promise I’ll be back! ☺

Peace. (or, “Irie” – as they say in Jamaica.)