Hello from the mountains
of Nepal. We’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere this month. I
wrote in my previous blog about our crazy travel experience getting
from India to Nepal…but it didn’t end there. We spent the night in
Kathmandu, which could be one of my favorite places on earth, and
then set off on what was supposed to be a 13 hour bus ride.
It’s funny thinking about
my perception of time before the race, I couldn’t even comprehend a
13 hour car ride; these days a 13 hour ride is a beautiful retreat
from life. Turn your head phones on and zone out. However, after 24
hours, one starts asking questions.
Sparing details, we
arrived at our home for the month about 30 hours after departure.
We’re up in the mountains and it’s beautiful. This is definitely the
most remote month I’ve had thus far on the race. Electricity and
water come when they want to, and it’s hot…really, really hot.
But, it’s okay. We’re
pushing through. We’ve had some pretty hilarious experiences in the
midst of our Nepalese mountainside…like team bathing in a stream
(with our swimsuits on of course) and hour long hikes up mountains to
share the Good News. We’re living up to our name this month.
All that to say, month
nine of the world race is pretty rough. The roughest it’s been for
me so far. I’ve had some ‘I just want to go home’ moments in the
past, but this month has pushed me more than I thought I could be
pushed.
My new teammate, Taylor,
made a comment about us being in labor pains and that has kind of
stuck with me. Having never been pregnant, I don’t really know what
it’s like, but from what I understand, it’s not a walk in the park.
I hear you get sick all
the time, you gain weight, your back hurts, your ankles swell and
you’re a bit more emotional than you have ever been before and you
don’t know why. Well…welcome to the World Race. And I’m in the
ninth month. Things are getting really uncomfortable. Really,
really uncomfortable. To the point that I don’t know how much more I
can take before I just start screaming.
But, something else I’ve
heard about being pregnant, is that, though it sucks, and labor hurts
and you sweat and scream, at the end, you’re handed a beautiful baby,
full of innocence and purity. And when you hold that baby all the
pain and the hurt just melts away.
Again, I’ve not gone
through this experience, so this is all hear say, but I think this is
[metaphorically] what I’m going through right now. I think I’m
having labor pains. And I don’t know if I can make it…and people
are telling me to push…but I don’t want to anymore.
But at the end there will
be new life and I hear, it’s going to make everything worth it.
(pray for me.)
