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Sunday
Jan252009
Minding the gap
20 years ago this month, I boarded a plane and headed to London to live for six months.
{Can it really be so long ago?}
It was an exhilarating, crucial time for me. I had longed to have an adventure for as long as I could remember--to see the world and experience it firsthand. And, lucky for me, the world did not disappoint. It was there that I became clearer on my priorities & beliefs; my life was still simple {and self-centered} enough that I felt like I could live up to all my expectations. In many ways, I was probably my best version of myself while I was there--I feel like I've been trying ever since to return to the habits I developed and the qualities I embraced while I was there, to recapture the openness, curiosity, positivity and wide-eyed, dazzled feelings I experienced.
And, boy, did I have some experiences! Unfortunately, over my many moves I have lost my journal from that time {I know, sad, yes?I'm still hunting...} but I'm going to tell a few of the stories here over the next few months to both commemorate the anniversary of my journey and to document it for later...to mind the gap between then and now.
Like the time I got lost in Rome and found myself opening a door and emerging smack in the middle of a horse race track...during a race.
Or when I took a plane to Greece with a couple of friends and cruised the Greek isles on practically pennies and somehow stupidly managed to endanger the lives of over a hundred people.
Or how I learned the hard way not to make eye contact with certain groups of Roman (or Greek, for that matter...) men.
Or how being on the other side of the world helped me realize G was the man for me.
Or just how I came to understand who I really was and who I wanted to be.
Coming soon...
01.25.2009
Reader Comments (16)
Sounds like you've had some big adventures in your life! I've read through some of your posts and have enjoyed the visit. I'll keep the one about your daughter getting home before you did in mind... my daughter is nearing those going out years (but not quite!).
Roban
I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures. This is going to be good.
I left my best self in Montreal on my mission.
i am so looking forward to your stories. just to cruise around greek islands would be awesome! did you happen to run into any movie stars? have you heard therese's latest about hugh? i think i will plan a trip there just to hugh watch with her out the window.
ooh can't wait to hear the stories! I still have my embarrassing but amazingly detailed SA journal. My goal is to write it up this year.
oops, did I just say I had a goal for this year? 'cause that would be reckless.
i can hardly wait. i also recently had a realization that something happened to me 20 years ago, and i had been thinking it was more like ten. painful reality slap.
and i am so sorry for the loss of your journal. that is truly a loss.
oooh, can't wait to hear more. I can't think of anything worse than losing a journal. So sorry...
I think you discovered your potential in a time out of time, and when you came home, life said, "You now know what you can be, but you need to try to reach those goals with the weights of reality. Let's add a husband, a couple of kids, worries about health, money, school, and why not have a bunch of church people depend on you for EVERYTHING!
You glimpsed your potential when you were young and carefree. You recognize it when you see it in glimpses between the work you're doing now. It's still inside you, and you can follow it until you reach it, with reality on your shoulders.
I think that's why it's good to look back and remind ourselves of what we learned about ourselves.
And then see all we've accomplished since. It gives us hope.
I can't wait to read about your adventures and all the lessons for life that came home as souvenirs.
yay!
can't wait!
(I'm not sure if I've ever really discovered my best self yet... You're lucky to have such a great reference point...)
You tell the greatest stories and I can not wait to hear!!!
How awesome is Oma? LOVE her.
I personally cannot wait. Please start today with the one about the Roman and Greek men.
can't wait!
can't wait!
I'll be counting the seconds.
Your experiences sound very similar to those of my mission, including realizing who I was and who I wanted to be and the loosing of my journal(it's around here somewhere, I know it).
18 years ago, I was doing the same thing. I can't wait to hear about your adventures. I agree about Italian men-handsome but very pushy! I did learn one very important lesson-I will never let my 19 year old child go to Europe... without me!
I clicked over to you from Segullah. I think maybe you went to London the same time as my husband. Do you know Darren Westenhaver?