It takes a community

To borrow from Hillary Rodham Clinton, who in turn borrowed from an African proverb, I do believe "it takes a village to raise a child." Or in our case, it takes a community to sail around the world. We are delighted to be joining the community that will be the Spring 2013 Semester at Sea voyage, and I hope to post lots in months to come about the connections built among the many diverse members of that still-forming group.

As excited as we are to join the shipboard village, our community at home in Virginia is a very, very special one we will miss a great deal. We are just awed at the warm support from colleagues all over UVA (especially in my home library and Alderman), the helpfulness of Jr's school with homeschool details, the flexibility of Sr's employer, and all kinds of help from friends, family, and of course the wonderful staff at SAS. There are too many names to list, but we appreciate every single one of you for wishing us well, covering duties while we are away, and doing all of the things that make SAS possible. I know it is a month before we go, but we are already saying goodbye to friends and family we see infrequently. We will do our best to keep posting here as so many of you have made us promise!