Four-Year Plan: Concluded

Four years ago, I had just finished my first year of teaching in NYC, I was struggling with the aftermath of a break-up, and I had been watching the World Cup on screens set up on the sidewalks of the Bronx.

On June 26, 2006, I wrote this in my journal:

"I want to go the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. I'll be 29 years old, almost 30. That's four years away. What do I want to have accomplished by then? Who do I want to have become? Four years is a long time. It's the period of time of high school, of college undergrad; four years ago, I was in the MTC. But life after missions and graduation feels devoid of predetermined and predictable goals. So I'm going to have to create my own. With FIFA 2010 as my goal, I feel empowered with a sense of my agency. This is where I see myself on the eve of my trip to South Africa:"

Then I wrote a list of goals. Some are too personal to include here, but here is a sampling:

• Ride my bike across the country - Summer 2007 I did not ride across the country the way I had intended, but I did ride "across" North to South.
• Become a confident and competent cook; host frequent dinner parties. - I no longer get anxiety in grocery stores!
  
• Be in the process of working on another graduate degree towards my goal of becoming a counselor/motivational speakers/writer/community organizer for adolescents. - When I wrote that, I had no idea what degree I wanted, and yesterday I graduated with a Master's in Social Work. The program fit that description perfectly.
  
• Read the entire scriptural canon. - Well, I got through the Doctrine and Covenants, but only through half of the Old and New Testaments. Still feel good about that though. In the middle of the Book of Mormon now.
  
• Develop sustainable healthy living habits. Achieve my ideal weight. - Weight achieved! Habits: ongoing work in progress.
  
• Be a bonding, unifying force for my family, immediate and extended. - Also ongoing, but last summer, we had a pretty sweet extended family reunion.
  

I have been obsessed with South Africa since I took my first class on apartheid my Sophomore year of college. I secretly wanted to be the next Amy Biehl. In the ten years since then, I have made it around South America and Southeast Asia, but not to the continent that excited me the most.

I fly to Johannesburg in about nine hours.

A friend of a friend, Seth, is meeting me at the airport. We have only emailed and talked on the phone, but we will be traveling together for two weeks. (In later posts, I will share the vetting process he went through.) After he flies home to Rochester, New York, I will have two weeks on my own. Fortunately, I have other friends of friends who will be there with whom I'm hoping to connect.

On Thursday, we have tickets to Argentina vs. Korea in Johannesburg. On Saturday, we have tickets to Netherlands vs. Japan in Durban. Then we are going to drive along the coast to Cape Town along the Garden Route, and hopefully pick up some more game tickets along the way.

Even given the tone of resolution and determination with which I wrote my end goal four years ago, I don't know if I actually believed that it would happen. But it is! I'm going! It gives me the chills.