Feral Opportunity

I've heard about opportunity knocking.  They say it does that. But in my experience, Opportunity is less a polite salesman and more like a feral cat.  It kind of peeks out at me from the bushes.  I'll just be walking up my front path and I'm like- wait.  Did I hear something? 
Every now and then I catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. Was that? Could that have been.. something?  Hmm.  Then as time goes on, I notice it prowling around, getting bolder.  Leaving prints on my windshield.  I start thinking about it.  Hmm.  I believe there's a feral Opportunity in my yard.
I kind of go on about life but it's at the back of my mind.  What to do about it?  Should I take it in?  Can I handle all the work of an Opportunity right now?  It may need grooming.  It could bite.  But...it might be such a nice addition to life.  I might even love it. 
It's hard to decide, you know, whether I'm an Opportunity-taking-in kind of person, when it comes down to it.  Life is going just fine as it is, after all, and even if I was the type, what if this isn't the exact right Opportunity for me? What if it's the kind that pees on the sofa?!  So I'll think about it.  Off and on.  Maybe try to check it out a bit from a distance.  And then.
One day, coming home after a long day, I'm looking in my bag for the keys.  Where are they? Oh. There they are.  And I look up to open the door and BAM!  There it is.  The feral Opportunity, right on my doorstep. And it's giving me the Stare Down.  I freeze! I stare, it stares back.  I look around like, what do I do?! It stares back.  I take a step. It stares back. 
Opportunity is like, it's getting cold out here, lady.  What's it gonna be?  So. I either have to shoo it off with the porch broom so it will go bother someone else....or just say what the heck.  Scoop the thing up, and bring it inside.  Boom.  Now I have an Opportunity on my hands.
At least, that's how it tends to happen for me. 
Now, I'm really not at all a cat person.  But I do have a soft spot for Opportunities.  And that is why, when the Opportunity to go to Africa and do some work for my favorite organization on earth sat it's furry tail on the porch and stared me down...well.  It just looked so nice, Peanuts.  It sort of looked like this one Opportunity I had in college.  I couldn't say no! 
Of course I'm not in college anymore.  And the thing about taking in Opportunities when you're all grown and married with kids is that when you bring it into the house, the whole family has to live with it. 
This particular one involves being overseas for longer than J can take off of work.  What that means is that he will be staying home for this trip, but the Littles will be coming with me!
There are risks involved of course.  As there are any time you travel anywhere, as there are when you drive to the grocery store, as there are in life.  There are some special concerns I have about this trip, like getting used to surroundings that are different from their norm, and whether I personally will survive the 19 hour trip across the world to get there. 
But as easy as it is to see the potential for fleas and scratched furniture, Opportunities also have the potential to curl up in your lap and purr.  
I'm thrilled to introduce my daughters to a place that I believe is so rich and beautiful, to people that mean so much to me, and to an experience that can show them in a tangible way how diverse and limitless the world is. I know they are small, especially Miss.  But I don't for a moment think that even She won't be impacted and influenced by visiting another country, so different from what they have known. 
I anticipate some rough moments.  There will be jetlag, everything will be different, and we will see some things that are hard to see. We will miss Daddy a lot.  But I hope that Ethiopia will be for them a little bit of what it has been to me before.  I hope that international travel will give them that glimmer, that hint that the wide world is something vast and wonderful to explore.  I'm hoping that by coming with me, they will gain that little something that will make them grow up to be a Crazy Opportunity Lady, like me.