Reflections on a Year

As I prepare to board this plane, my heart is full and emotion surges through my body. I will be processing all that has happened for a time to come. Am I ready to return, to rejoin a path, to feel stability? Yes, I am ready. It is an adventure of a different name. Will I wander in the world again? Oh, I have no doubt.

I have gained and unloaded baggage this year, both literally and figuratively. I have explored the power of personal growth, of the mind's incredible ability to lift up and put down. I remind myself of the path of life: if I am not on a path that brings happiness, and with happiness comes peace, patience and kindness, then I must change my path. 

Reflections on this past year of living. Whew. I think back and my mind skips and leaps among the countless life affirming and life changing experiences. El Camino, Nepal, Antarctica, Israel, meeting friends old and new across the globe. Falling in love, and making the decision to fall out of it. Musing on a future, going back to school and the joy and direction that brings. Encountering loneliness and also the greatest moments of acceptance and exhilaration. I have loved beyond words what this year has meant in the scheme of my life.

I think upon my favorite poem, "Ithaka" by Cavafy, particularly the last lines:

"Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. 

Without her you would not have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now. 

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean."

I am finding my voice, my evolution. This is not the end of a series of moments, it's a continuation of saying "I am here, now, and that is blissfully enough." 

Aloha my America.