Today is Tuesday, Saturday I will leave all I know and love to pursue a lifelong love of birds and nature in general.  I am packed, I am bored, I am ready to head into what I know as the unknown to discover volcanos, snorkeling, white water rafting, rip lining and discovering a world that up to now has only been available to me through National Geographic and Nova.  I want to smell the air, taste the salt of the water that the sea turtles taste, smell the clean air and feel the breeze that many of the birds I have studied for a lifetime take for granted.  They expect the fresh air and breeze under wing.  I will see things that the average Homo Sapiens will never see,  The world as it was meant to be, natural, undisturbed, uninhibited, to see the diversity of species that a sheltered life here in the United States has sheltered me from.  I am filled with angst and excitement as I imagine seeing flocks of Scarlet McCaw's flying or feeding on the clay that is such an important part of their diet. Or watching a hummingbird with a plethora of color exploding from his foliage, hovering to take in the nectar the earth has provided.   To walk along the shores of the most famous geographers, biologists and adventurers from all facets of science, just to see the same sunset they might have seen, to walk along under the ruckus of howler monkeys, and do what a naturalist does, watch, listen, smell, think, and wonder how it all comes together.  These are the things on my mind as I sit in my comfortable condominium in Tulsa Oklahoma, a long way from my birthplace, a long way from my resting place.  I am ready.  I am honored.  I am humbled for this opportunity.