I am leaving tomorrow morning before dawn to begin the first part of my journey that leads to Africa and back. There are two open suitcases  in my bedroom, one from the last trip to Mexico containing things that I didn’t unpack in case they might want to come on this trip, and the other definitely for this trip that I have been tucking things into for days as I think of them. All day I have been circulating about the house like a madwoman doing the 1000 things one does on the day before leaving home for a month. Every time I go into the bedroom I find my dog Coco burrowed into one or the other suitcase either in a deep sleep or sitting up looking at me like “Where are we going?”

I know what he means. I always want to stowaway in God’s pocket. Tell me where we’re going, I’m in!