"It is the first of many beginnings"

I haven't blogged since my trip to Ireland two years ago, and I haven't blogged regularly since it was fashionable sophomore year. However, with my travels starting back up again I'm going to make a concerted effort to bring the blog back to life.

So to start off my new blogging resolution, here is a really beautiful quote that my friend Rachel, stationed in Micronesia with the Peace Corps, recently sent me.

Pack nothing. Bring only your determination to serve and your willingness to be free. Don't wait for the breath to rise. Take nourishment for the journey, but eat standing, be ready to move at a moments notice.

Do not hesitate to leave your old ways behind -- fear, silence, submission. Only surrender to the need of the time -- to love justice and walk humbly with your God.

Begin quickly, before you have time to sink back into old slavery. Set out in the dark. I will send fire to warm and encourage you. I will be with you in the fire and I will be with you in the cloud.

I will give you dreams in the desert to guide you safely home to that place you have not yet seen...I am sending you into the wilderness to make a new way and to learn my ways more deeply.

Some of you will be changed by weathers and wanderings that even your closest friends will have to learn your features as though for the first time. Some you will not change at all.

Some will be abandoned by your dearest loses and misunderstood by those who have known you since birth and feel abandoned by you. Some will find friendship in unlikely faces, and old friends as faithful and true as the pillar of God's flame.

Sing songs as you go, and hold close together. You may at times grow confused and lose your way...touch each other and keep telling stories...Make maps as you go, remembering the way back from before you were born...

So you will be only the first of many waves of deliverance on the desert seas.

It is the first of many beginnings -- you Paschaltide.

Remain true to the mystery.

Pass on the whole story...Do not go back. I am with you and I am waiting for you.

--Alla Renne Bozarth

I leave for Europe this Tuesday, May 13th. A lot of people have asked me over the last month if I am excited, but really the trip felt too surreal to get excited. Jessica and I first talked about backpacking last August and bought our tickets in December. The trip has been in the making for nine months and it had yet to sink in that I was actually going anywhere. It was only today when I got to work and realized that I would not be coming back for over 5 weeks that it finally hit me. The butterfly's in my stomach continued to build all day as I realized I'm embarking on my trip in four days with a rough itinerary and guidebook in hand. I know that because the trip lacks a rigid structure it will end up taking us to a lot of unexpected places. The quote that Rachel sent me above suites this trip well.