It’s the beginning of month 8 of the Race and EVERYTHING is happening, AT ONCE. Emotions, maybes, what-ifs, could it-should it-would its. It also means there is only four months left before I return to US soil. What happens next? Where will I go? What will I do?
In the last eight months I have stayed in no less than 16 different places. I’ve slept on planes, trains, buses, in bus stations, in airports, in church gyms, in rooms with 2-12 other people, on soft beds and beds where I could feel every spring. I have spent over a hundred hours on buses not to mention the hours spent on 10 different planes and 40+ hours spent in airports. There was the time our plane was late landing in Seoul and we had an escort to our connecting flight (would you want to rebook 42 people on another flight?)
I have ridden bicycles, tuk tuks, taxis, cable cars, trains, the ever popular buses, ferries, planes, cars, in the back of trucks, walked who knows how many miles, (… In case I missed one).
I have paraglided, waited hours for buses to go into town, played with elephants, explored random towns, found cool coffee shops, boated on Lake Titicaca, seen Angkor Wat, walked the Killing Fields, drove a four-wheeler through the back roads of Cambodia. I’ve seen the Golden Triangle, the White Temple, day tripped to Budapest, walked along the Danube, rode the subway (yup it makes for great entertainment, try it sometime!) and the list goes on.
I have laughed with people, cried with people, and just sat and listened to people. I have been called Hermana (sister), Profa, Teacha, Maria, Marie and, my all-time favorite, Mamai. (The Month I was a Grandma) I’ve taught English, cooked alongside people who can’t speak my language, played with kindergartners till I thought I couldn’t do “red light green light” one more time. I helped get a church ready to use, I’ve played with kids in Gypsy neighborhoods, cleaned up trash with a homeless couple, cut and peeled countless vegetables, met the randomest people (ask me about Cambodia sometime)…
I have this month in Bulgaria and next month I go to Africa (say what?), the continent I dreamed of going to for years.
A lot of dreams are being fulfilled on this “trip of a lifetime”, and new ones are surfacing for my future. I’m allowing myself to hope for things I always thought were “pipe dreams”. I’m not finished with the Race, and God’s not done using the Race to make me who he wants, and needs, me to be to fulfill his purpose in me. It’s crazy right now thinking about what life will look like, when I return home, but I’m not scared.
Rapunzel: I’ve been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?
Flynn Rider: It will be.
Rapunzel: And what if it is? What do I do then?
Flynn Rider: Well, that’s the good part I guess. You get to go find a new dream.
