I love traveling. I love the nervous anticipation when you're waiting in the airport. Or making sure you have everything packed in the car for a road trip. I love the random strangers that you meet. I love the new foods. The tents. The hotels. The different languages. The people you travel with. The places that change your life forever.
I suppose this is a small tribute to all my travels over the last four or five years. All the many places that made a difference.
Grand Canyon ~ Summer 2007
I remember being genuinely happy there. For the first time since my Gram had died. For the first time breathing freely.
International Youth Conference 2007 ~ Knoxville, Tenn.
He is carrying me, through the wind and through the storm. We will walk hand in hand along the beach for the rest of my life.
France ~ Summer 2008
A best friend, two sixteen-year-olds running around Paris at night unsupervised, many croissants later, a beach, World War II beaches, Jean-Jacques, snails, and a very adorable winery owner (Mathieu, if I recall).
Malawi ~ Summer 2008
I never looked at water, food, clothing, light, or my opportunities with the same apathy or lack of appreciation again.
As I sat there watching the busy students, I was struck by their joy over simple pieces of paper. Back at home, I could easily grab paper when I needed it. I had books and millions of journals. At school, we used paper without even thinking - wasted paper that those students would have loved to draw on. Or even used for toilet paper.
Glacier National Park ~ Summer 2009
"For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies; for the love which from our birth, over and around us lies; Lord to all, to Thee we raise, this, our hymn of grateful praise"
New York ~ Spring 2010
"Could be, who knows, there's something due any day, I will know right away, soon as it shows. It may come cannonballin' down through the sky, gleam in it's eye, bright as a rose. Who knows?"
Mexico & International Youth Conference 2010, San Diego
There was a baby. Her name was Monserrat. She is the most beautiful and precious baby. Dark thick hair, long black eyelashes, and when she awoke, the most piercing, innocent, and beautiful brown eyes. My heart melted and broke into a million pieces. How can I even begin to explain what I felt holding her.
"Recibe toda la gloria, recibe toda la honra, Precioso hijo de dios"
It's not over yet!
And it isn't. When you travel, the trip never actually ends. The lasting effects linger everywhere you go. Sometimes I will smell Africa, or Mexico. See a sunrise reminiscent of the many camping and hiking trips. Or throw in French phrases in my conversations.
Cambodia is swiftly approaching.
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