Pausing Here and There

I’ve been on the move more in the last five months of my life, then I ever have before and I’m excited to keep going, casting my roots wide and enjoying the people I meet along the way. It was inevitable that I leave Phoenix, AZ, my residence for the last two years. I enjoyed teaching there and learning and soaking up the sun, but it was time for a change.

Two months or so ago I sold all my stuff and trucked the remnants across the country in my little car to Chicago. Once in the midwest, I took off almost immediately for a two week stint in Cameroon, Africa where I visited my brother who was studying there. Back in the U.S. again, I drove north to Minneapolis where I lived for the summer, died too many times of heat exhuastion, helped a friend’s son with his multiplication facts, swam a lot at the delightful Hidden Beach, and mostly worked on finishing my Montessori training. (I am now officially an AMI Montessori teacher). Woot. (courtesy of SarahandMegan)

Now I’m in the stages of getting excited for another upcoming adventure…I’m living with the rents, saving money, working as a tutor and reconnecting with old high school pals until October 26 when I will adjourn once more, this time flying to Guatemala City. From there it’s a trip to Antigua, then on to Xela, and then, to uncertainty. The ultimate goals are three-fold: Learn (and become fluent in) Spanish, travel so that I might learn a bunch more about this giant world we live in and create everyday, and get better at participating in it in a wholly positive and happy way. As my yoga teacher Kat often told me in Phoenix: Be the change you wish to see in the world. I hope I’m doing that now, but I have a lot more to learn and am ready for some radical change.

A big maker-of-plans, this is a good life challenge for me. I’m excited and terrified to let go of some of my more type A sensibilities and let the winds lead me where they may. Perhaps I’ll make it to South America, perhaps I’ll go to Mexico, perhaps I’ll stay put in Guatemala. Who knows. At any rate, this is as good a place as any to track the adventuresomeness of it all.