hay un mundo más allá

And it's here, the day I've been planning for the last 2 years. It has yet to really hit me, what I'm about to go do. Im feeling some nervous anticipation, not a chance I can fall asleep tonight. I have never felt this feeling before.

The winds of change have been blowing over the last few days in sunny St. Pete, maybe some of the most blustery days I can remember. My last month here in Florida has only reconfirmed for me over and over that I am supposed to go on this trip. I love how living in possibility has a way of revealing itself to you, unfolding as if it's letting you know that you're on to something good. Finally it will be just me, my backpack and my lack of inhibitions. And finally, I will come to terms with my ties to that continent and its people. South America has something to teach me and I will be receptive.

To all of my family and friends, good god, I have got so much love for you. Not a chance I could have pulled something like this off without your support. The send off has been just amazing, I feel so loved.
- Mom and Dad, I am so sincerely grateful that yall took the time and effort to help me out in the last few days, you know I would have been s.o.l. without you. You are the reason I am who I am and that's attributed to your job well done as parents. Please try not to worry too much about me, Im gonna be just fine.
- Ceviche crew, now that was a party, rowdy like always. Not many people can say they love their co-workers, but we've become family and we all know how special that is.

- My girls, my ladies...words can't even express. It has been so real. Really, really living and loving. Thank you for teaching me. And to think that even better days are to come, now that will trip ya up. We might all be  doing our own independent thing right now, but we will reconvene again soon and create!

 
- St. Pete, yep I've fallen in love with a city. (Elisa, thank you for helping me see that)

A final thought shared with me by Ms. Ross:

A man needs to travel. By his own means, not by stories, images, books or TV. By his own, with his eyes and feet, to understand what is his. To some day plant his own trees and give them some value. To know the cold to enjoy the heat. To feel the distance and lack of shelter to be well under his own ceiling. A man needs to travel to places he doesn't know to break this arrogance that makes us see the world as we imagine it, and not simply as it is or may be. That makes us teachers and doctors of what we have never seen, when we should just be learners, and simply go see it. - Amyr Klink.