2006. I’ve been quiet lately- I apologize, but my brain has been a whirlwind. I am alive, well, and working in Lisbon, Portugal. As I have not been tethered to a computer for the last few weeks, I have had time to think, to write, and to pay attention to what I have learned thus…
It’s not glamorous or comfortable, but it happens. You are sore in the morning, you look like a train wreck, you wonder why there are bootprints on your face and pray the pile of drool on your shirt is yours (seriously, how did the bootprint get on my face?).
I enjoyed watching the lightning display for 3 hours, until the thunder and lightning gave way to the first colors of the morning. Soaking wet, with the thunder above my head and the lightning bleaching the sky to a fluorescent white- I heard the beating of my heart growing stronger, the adrenaline pumping through my body from head to toe, I breathed in deeply, and even the air felt electric.
“this IS goodbye. I am beginning a new life on the road for an undetermined amount of time. I am certain it will change so much of me, my life, views, and traditions that I will not be the same person I was when I left.”
I quit a job that I adored. I am getting rid of all my possessions. I am getting on the plane to Greece with no idea if or when I will return to California. In this moment I am fine with that.
Can you sacrifice a latte or two to save a person’s life? Donate now, or lose sleep tonight- the choice is yours.
Travel has made me kinder, more understanding of others, it has taught me there IS a bigger picture, it has taught me that I don’t know as much as I thought I did. It has also shown me things I never wanted to see. Starving, barefoot, dirty children with weapons trying to make a living at 7 or 8 years old.
Friends, you all have your own dreams and paths you have to follow. I wish for each of you to feel as certain of your way and the burning desire to wake up and start tomorrow as you lay in bed that I feel.