....sing along with me, and read my blog! If you don't get that reference, please listen to this song. It's one of my all-time favorites and it will change your life.
So now that I have an official departure date (November 12th!!) and it's officially less than one month away (?!) I figured it was about time for me to get blogging. Now you can all be a part of the rollercoaster of extreme emotions I'm about to ride for the next few weeks, and maybe those of you who have already been through it can help me stay sane. Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited to get to Peru and finally start this new chapter of my life. I have been waiting for months, living vicariously through fellow JV's pictures and blogs, and slowly marking off the days until November. I haven't spent this much time at home since before college, so while it has been wonderful, I'm beginning to feel like it's time for me to go. And once I finish everything that I'm doing right now, I think I'll be ready.
These extra few months at home have truly been a blessing though, filled with family, friends, beautiful fall weather, and many unexpected gifts. Never in my life have I felt so relaxed, so at peace, yet still so excited for the adventures that await me just around the corner. And because I didn't get a job for this in-between time I've been able to do some pretty cool stuff! Just to recap...since my graduation from Holy Cross on May 22nd I have:
-driven across the country with Emma, Jeana, and Henrietta, covering 15 states and over 5,000 miles in 2 weeks
-spent two amazing weeks at John Carroll University for JVI orientation, meeting so many incredible new JV's, former JV's, and staff members who have already impacted my life in ways I never could have imagined
-helped coach the Seattle Prep girls cross-country team (the team I ran on for 4 years in high school) which has been so much fun and allowed me to reconnect with/meet a lot of wonderful people
-run my first marathon in Portland! no words can describe how amazing that was
And those are just the highlights! So like I said, many unexpected gifts have come out of these experiences and I am just feeling so incredibly blessed to be exactly where I am right now, soaking up all that is wonderful and life-giving about home and preparing myself for this next big adventure.
Oh and before I close this inaugural post, I wanted to briefly explain the title of my blog. It comes from a poem by Spanish poet Antonio Machado from his collection Campos de Castilla. I wrote my final paper for my Spanish poetry class on this poem right before I left Spain, and the words have stuck with me ever since:
Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino y nada más;
Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace el camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante no hay camino
sino estelas en la mar.
If you don't speak Spanish I'm so sorry because my very rough translation does not do this poem justice, and it's just not nearly as pretty in English, but I'll do my best:
Wanderer, your footsteps are
the way, and nothing more;
Wanderer there is no way,
the way is made by walking.
By walking one makes the way,
and looking behind
one sees the path that never
will be traveled again.
Wanderer there is no way,
only trails upon the sea.
I've always loved those lines, "Caminante no hay camino, se hace camino al andar" because they speak to my wandering spirit. I've never known exactly which path to follow in my life, I've just known I needed to go somewhere. My wanderings from Seattle to Worcester to Kenya to Spain to everywhere in between have opened my eyes to a world that's so much bigger than the one I grew up in, and I trust that my wanderings in Peru will teach me, challenge me, and change me even more. Like Machado says, there is no set way we have to live our lives, we just have to live them!
So this is me living mine, haciendo mi propio camino (making my own way). I have no idea where these next two years will lead me, but I'm sure my camino will be an interesting one, and I can't wait to see where it goes!
Until next time,
la caminante
(the wanderer)
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