Big changes, it seems, always come down to strings of numbers. That flight takes me from home to England to see the family and walk the fields. From there to Morocco.
From there... who knows? Mauritania, Senegal, Mali. Down the West Coast and up to the Sahara. Bumping around on boats, buses, the backs of trucks. I can feel the dust already. With a bit of scrimping, saving, and starving, I should be able to swing a year or 18 months. With a job along the way, it could stretch a good bit longer.
Five years. Five years since I landed back in K-W after a year out wandering. Five years of university. Five years of building a life for myself, a life way, way too beautiful and rich to even begin to cover in a blog post. There's so much more to leave behind then there was the last time - and that's exactly why it's time to go. I've never been a big fan of living on momentum, and it would be way too easy right now just to step into rest of my life.
I've almost forgotten what it feels like to wake up in the morning in complete control of my life, to have time to slow down and think, to look around and drink in everything around me. I've almost forgotten what it's like to be really scared: not stressed, or exasperated, or nervous, but just refreshingly frightened. It seems a bit perverse, but I miss the rare bad times almost as much as the good ones. How can you really get to know yourself without being alone and afraid from time to time?
More to the point, there really is nothing better than watching a sunrise in a new place, sitting and having a cup of tea with the people there, struggling along in a language not your own. Climbing mountains and jumping in rivers and shoving your brain full of as much detail as it will hold. That's what I daydream about every day. That's what I'll be doing 4 months from now. Surreal.
There's a heck of a lot to do in those 4 months, and if the past 4 are any guide, they'll go fast. The unfortunate side effect of a busy life (and one where I cling pretty tightly to my independence) is that there is a lot of winding up to do. Sorting out money and doctors and dentists and taxes and all that mundane stuff looms. At some point, I do also have to finish university, too. Hmm. In that sense, this is a bit of a different kettle of fish than it was 6 years ago. This time, I'm facing a completely open-ended journey. This time, I won't have a home to come back to. This time is the time to finally uproot myself from K-W.
I will, of course remain in contact. Through the wonders of cross-pollinating technology, I think I've managed to build a web between my Facebook account, my new Flickr, and my blog. Those of you that are Facebook-friendly should find journal entries and photos popping up there. Otherwise, here are the actual blog and flickr addresses:
http://bootsandabackpack.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootsandabackpack
Journals are great, but they're just journals. Not much use for saying goodbyes. So, let's set something up. Come May, I won't see any of you again for at least a year or two. Knowing life, it may be much longer than that as everyone speeds of in their own directions. This definitely calls for a glass of wine, or a walk in the park, or a cup of tea somewhere comfy. There's been a lot worth celebrating in the past five years. I'll see you all around.
Peace
Josh
I am officially booked on a flight touching down in Morocco on May 11. See you in three months, my friend.
ReplyDelete