I tweeted recently that when I get home I would be teaching at George Washington University. Tweeting doesn't really allow me to fully explain what is going on and a few people have asked. 

On July 29th, I board a plane bound for Dulles Airport in Washington DC and, depending on my route, arrive that evening at home in Gaithersburg, Maryland. My departure date is 3 years to the day of my arrival in Baghdad. It has been an amazing three years, and its been a professional revelation. Personally, however, its taken a toll. Home is the goal and the destination right now; it overrides all other interests and desires I have.

But a guy's got to earn a living, and so as the pages of the calender turns (err... as the screens of the months on Outlook flip by) I need to figure out what I'm going to do professionally to keep me engaged and energized as I am now. The transition will be difficult; right now, I'm pretty much dedicated to work exclusively - there isn't much else to do. When I get home, there's an adjustment to be made as work will have to share a finite space in my consciousness with family and health. 

I think a lot of people haven't fared well at this transition - at least that's one way of explaining why so many people that leave here with the same proclomation never to return, show up months later for a new 2-year assignment. Its my intention to fight this urge. On July 29th, its goodbye Iraq, and while I may return on short term assignments to meet my company's needs, my focus will be to ultimately go elsewhere.

Fortunately for me, Management Systems International offered me a staff position before I came to Iraq, and for this I am now especially grateful. I know that when I get home, I have a professional family to return to, a shared goal to pursue, and a place in which to do it. After 3 years of having very few options, narrowing the number of choices I have to make is more important to me than it might be at any other time. I still need to carve out my place inside MSI, but I think its the right place. That matters. A lot.

But there's more - I need to re-engage professionally with the development community while home in the United States. That means rejoining associations,  participating in my Washington alumni events, and just getting out and about. These are the things I only dreamed of in Baghdad (or did via Skype; its not the same thing).

One of those things is teaching. A friend of mine, Wade Channell from USAID, will be teaching a course in Enterprise Development in the developing country context I think to a Masters Degree program. I have graciously invited myself to assist him with this course in the hopes that I can build a relationship with the school and possibly have a course of my own some day. I'm really excited about this. 

There's so much I want to do!