Leavin' on a jet plane

And...we're off! Tonight we fly to Hong Kong to kick off our grand adventure with 2 weeks at the D.Light offices in China. I feel so many different emotions today: sad, excited, nervous, stoked, jittery. Needless to say, I didn't sleep too much last night. After all of this anticipation, I'm glad we're finally going. But I'm also really scared about letting go of everything that's familiar and jumping into the unknown.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a poem to try to describe my feelings, and I'd like to share it with all of you:

Leap

I am a roller skater

poised atop a steep ramp.

Someone pushes me from behind

and downdowndown

I go.

Miraculously, I keep

my balance and start to

pick up speed. Surely, I think,

this must be someone else's life,

or a dream -- but no,

I see the edge of the ramp

rushing up to greet me, and it is real.

It curves up slightly, a smirk,

a smile, a ski jump,

the swoosh of my life.

In a moment,

gravity and fate shall fling me

into that vast expanse

of the unknown,

and all I can do is pray to God

that my creaky old wings

remember how to

fly.

-JMH, 10/11/09