Well this post is long overdue.
I seem to only blog whenever I am in the U.S.A. That's probably because that is the only time I have the energy to reflect and type away.
I'm having one of those traveling down memory lane days. Those usually start out with me reading an old journal and go on with me contacting people I haven't in a while, listening to music that is directly connected to those times, and looking over old photographs that bring me back to those days.
On such days, I end up feeling more blessed than ever.
I am here, in the US for another week. I've had such a great time with Jeremy, my sister, and the few other people I've had the opportunity to run into or to spend time with.
In exactly one week I get to add new experiences and new adventures to my journals. Those experiences will someday be part of my "traveling down memory lane days."
The mystery of it all excites me.
I'm having a hard time getting excited about moving to New Zealand right now since my moving there is linked with my having to say farewell to Jeremy once more. Hopefully this will be the very last time we have to say goodbye to each other for such a long period of time.
Farewells aside, I am very much looking forward to discovering a new country, new culture, new traditions, and to create new routines.
I will hopefully make new friends, connect with ones I already know, see people I haven't seen in a long time, and hopefully be an impact and a blessing through the grace of God.
I can't promise to blog or journal frequently depending on what my schedule will look like. My hope is to create more wonderful memories and be able to somehow record them so that I can someday look back on them and feel these bittersweet emotions that always overwhelm me whenever I go through days such as this one.
I am so overwhelmed by God's blessings in my life so far. I am only 26 and have already been to 13 countries, and lived in 3. I can add one more country to these two lists very soon.
I've been able to meet some of the most amazing human beings and have been blessed to call some of them my friends. Whether these friendships lasted or not, I know they have shaped me in some way or form into being who I am today. I thank God for that. I thank God for them.
I look around me and see how most of these people (old and current friendships) have evolved in life. Some of them are practically famous, others have steady jobs, some have started building families.
It's easy for me to compare my life to theirs and think to myself "I wish I had a stable and steady life." However, that is not who God created me to be.
He created me to move (a lot), to be challenged through different environments, to grow through farewells, to rely on Him at lonely times, to see his beauty through various cultures, to be curious, to discover, to be adventurous, to have random encounters at random places, to trust Him, and to love life.
I don't have a stable life. I don't have a job in my field of studies. I don't even know if I still have a passion in life (well I know I'm not doing anything as of now to pursue it).
But I have amazing people in my life, including my fiance, my family, and friends. I have great memories that constantly make me smile. I also have a lot to look forward to.
I am excited for what's to come. I am grateful. I am more than content. I am blessed. I am filled with joy. I feel humbled.
I am looking forward to more "trip down memory lane kinda days."
This journey called life is quite an amazing one, if you ask me. Just look around you.
Here are a few quotes that express a little bit of what I am feeling on days like today:
"I may not have gone where I was intended to go, but I think I ended up where I needed to."
"Don't let comparison steal your joy."
"Songs and smells will bring you back to a place more than anything else. It's amazing how much can be conjured in a few notes of a song or a solitary whiff of a room."
"My favorite thing to do is go where I've never been."
"My hear wants roots but my mind wants wings. I cannot stand their bickering."
"Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander."
"I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Pslam 139:14
"It feels good to be lost in the right direction."
"Travel as much as want. As far as you can. As long as you can. Life's not meant to be lived in one place."
"Say YES to new things and new people."
"I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalms 139:14
Blessings folks
DJO
