Today I leave New Zealand. And while it breaks my heart to know that a part of me will always miss the home I've made in this humble, beautiful country, I cannot help but smile knowing I grew up into a true dreamer in those Southern Alps. The rivers taught me that courage, while not always easy to stomach, is rewarding. Today, I looked out the plane window and a wave of things I'd taken for granted came flooding over me. Each rain drop against the window stands out as an individual memory.
The ocean - living in a coastal city and being able to, at the drop of a dime, feel the seaspray lap your face. I picture myself driving through the winding west coast roads, kicking my heels back on George street, the cold walk from my flat, Sandfly bay and the rhythmic sounds of our paddles tapping the Tasman Sea, the Southern Cross on a crisp Dunedin night, that full moon over Abel Tasman, the normalcy of Kiwi money and Edmund Hillary's mug shot on the $5 bill. I smile knowing I spent an entire semester using my sleeping bag as a comforter. I remember falling asleep bloody freezing in Fox Glacier in our tent that became home away from home
It will be strange returning home to a place that, in many ways, will no doubt seem foreign. I will always owe a great deal to New Zealand for its people have inspired me to dream big and act bigger. All we really need is the drive and initiative - I used to want to do things, now I know I can. Over the past 5 months, I've become incredibly aware of all that life can be.
And life can be good - real good. And brilliant and fabulous. Life is not to be lived in a state of suspended joy, but embraced right here, right now. The ordinary can be extraordinary.