On being a tourist and an epiphany-

I'm learning to be a tourist at home. To make a habit out of capturing moments through people, not monuments. I returned to the epicenter of the life I now live, the stories I've accumulated through the places I've seen and the people I've met--there's a magic in this little mountain town. It was in said town I first discovered my unwavering propensity to suss out the whole of an hour, a day or in this instance, a weekend. Two and a half days precisely. As I continue to unearth the sacred, I find that it in fact lives within me, around me, inside of you...

Here are some snapshots of stolen moments in that little mountain town where it all began, where I learned to fill my life with people, rather than things.

 

 

 

Gody has been with me from the beginning, on that very first day we stepped foot on campus. Freshmen year we lived a few doors down from each other and we would meet at 9:00 each morning to walk to class. He was my french 'tutor,' my heart-to-heart, my Bob Marley loving kindred spirit. He's one of those friends you know you'll have forever because you can't imagine your life without them.

Some nights the laughter is full, dance is a theme, and Drake is on repeat. They're the nights you can't recreate even if you tried. And that's what makes them so special, serendipitous even.

 

 

I try to connect the dots in my life, to find the underlying themes and what all of these moments are trying to teach me. If life is the sum total of the decisions made, then I believe we should practice reflection often. As I rode down the mountain today, connecting the dots of my two months abroad, my recent return, and this weekend--the light within flickered. I scuffled through my purse for a pen. It was happening, the unearthing of a theme of this chapter in my life as of late. I began to write it out word-for-word. A whole year of living, loving, forgiving, and growing was reduced to four words. Four words written on my wrist: infinite hopes, no demands.

I get it. There is no wrong in hoping. Dare I say, to hope is the purest of endeavors. One must hope infinitely...but with no demands.

"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there's something stronger--something better, pushing right back." -Albert Camus