Finishing Up

Today I handed in my DOS and completed my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer. It is was surreal to finish this chapter not as it is something that has been part of my life in one way or another for about 4 years.
Writing my Description of Service (DOS) that all important document which will go in my "permanent file" was cathartic in some ways- in that it was almost an expulsion of the last 2 years on that sheet- yet also odd. For so long Peace Corps has been my life- applying for Peace Corps, gathering medical/dental records for Peace Corps, packing, selling and eliminating in leaving for Peace Corps, and finally- of course- my service. As another PCV said, the final day was oddly anti-climactic.
Perhaps I am finding this particularly so because I have another week in the country. Given the excruciatingly short notice (about 3 weeks) about my COS (Close of Service) date- recently approved by Washington, in which I had a mandatory 1 week conference to attend and write my indelible DOS, I found it impossible to pack, clean and say goodbye. Luckily I extended my ticket for 1 week and will spend the next week tracking down all the people who I've connected with over the past few years.
Despite not feeling as if I had finished a mammoth climb- I did feel something walking out of the PC office for the final time, my stamped, signed DOS securely embedded amongst the myriad government forms in the large white American envelope contained in my bag. I could feel a slight lightness. I freedom I haven't felt in years. I assumed that freedom would be accompanied by fear but it wasn't. Perhaps the delayed departure- a week jammed with activities-and the knowledge that that was followed by a stint at an Eco-Village in Scotland and then five summer weddings in the US moderated that lightness and prevented me from feeling as if I was in a freefall. Perhaps. However, as I walked around, slowly freedom, the only think I could fee was general goodness. The early sun was on my face and I felt warm fluffy, buoyant and loose.