THIS IS IT!!!!!!

I'm sitting in the Richmond Int'l Airport (they do fly out of here to Canada), it's 2:56pm and I fly out to Atlanta at 3:55, arrive there at 5:45, at fly out directly to Accra, Ghana at 7:00pm!  Richard, Uncle David (Richard's brother), and Carson drove me to the airport--- Nigel stayed home to watch some chicken on the stove; and surprise of surprises, my running buddies Mary and Terri met me with a sign, "Run Cheryl Run"!!!  How sweet are my friends!!!

Almost had a luggage emergency--- my one bag was way over 50 lbs., so the solution was to get a second bag and split things up, versus pay $200 in overweight baggage fees!  OMG, who knew?!!!  Guess what the two bags ended up weighing?  . . .  Wait for it . . . 47 and 39 lbs!!!  Whew, dodged that bullet, and happily, Delta still allows you to check 2, yes TWO bags, FOR FREE!!!  Bless them.

Ran my last long run of 7 miles this morning, with dear running partners Mary and Mia, and what an awesome run it was.  Cool weather makes all the difference.  Also saw Carson play his second Wildcats football game, lost 22-zip!  Those boys did play hard.  And then it was home to finish preparations, eat lunch and hop in the car--- and here I am. 

So I'm feeling excited, very excited!!!  This dream that I conjured up last December is now coming true and I just can't believe my good fortune to be doing this now.  I still feel like it's a crazy, wacky thing to do, and I also know that I'm going to have the time of my life.  Thanks so much to all who have run with me, encouraged me, sponsored me, prayed for me, honored me, believed in me, and anything else that you've done--- it is by the grace of God that I am making this journey, and I am really, really grateful for this incredibly amazing, opportunity!!!  I'll keep you posted as best I can from here on . . .  FROM GHANA, WEST AFRICA!!!