Ants

The other day I was working in my backyard and had to move a loose tree stump so I could make room to paint. In order to move it by myself, I had to turn it over a couple times to get it out of the way. To my surprise, I realized that I had just uncovered an enormous colony of ants! I curiously watched them scramble around like chickens with their heads cut off, most of them carrying a minuscule portion of a solid white substance. I guessed that this was either their food supply, or they were transporting eggs to a place where they could hatch safely. I felt bad for uprooting them like that and forcing them to build a new home elsewhere.

That's when it hit me: I am in the same boat as this ant colony. I am being uprooted (although purposefully) from the life and home I've always known, and scrambling around trying to make sense of all the chaos that packing and getting ready for a three month journey entails. Instead of carrying around tiny little white things, I'm adorned with a big, black fifty pound suitcase, a small carry-on bag, and a purse with all the essentials in it.

I understand why they scramble. It's really scary when you're yanked out of your comfortable little world and thrown out into the unknown to face cultural differences and a change of environment. I'm scared. I'm nervous. I'm in disbelief. And I love it, because that means change is coming, that means growth is on its way.

I know there's hope for me because after about twenty minutes, the chaos of the colony calmed down and spread out in search of a place to call home elsewhere. Although there's only about forty of us going on this trip instead of a billion, I know that we will all spread out, calm down, and eventually call Italy home.