New Beginnings, Saying Goodbye and Closure

Hello Mike 

Here is a part of your daily horoscope for the Sun, 22 Jun 2014 : 

Your chances of the day You are at a turning point in your life and you will have to make decisions wisely. You will have the good luck to realize some ambitious plans that you have had in mind for such a long time. You will have the success you deserve.

Tomorrow I leave on the first leg of my trip. I will hopefully be in Dallas by mid-morning -visiting with one of my best friends who has been living down there for the last year. We decided that we will be living it up and doing all of the tourist things such as the JFK 6th Floor Museum and the Bush Library  and as a history and political nerd, I am sure I will love them both (though maybe not equally). 

That means in just a few days I will be flying into Bogota, Columbia and starting an adventure without a whole lot of details.  As I have mentioned in previous posts my return ticket says December, but I am hoping to see a great deal of places and intending to invest in a community(likely as a teacher) before I come home... so that 6 months could be more like a year or two. 

This has meant a lot of goodbyes, and a lot of effort in the last few months to prepare. If people have any interest in the preparation let me know in the comments and I will write about it later.

As the time of my trip has approached I have had a great deal of questions from folks, and also a lot of time to think about the purpose of the trip and the reasons behind my travel. 
I have been planning this trip for several years and on the eve of the adventure, it feels right. I am excited and hopeful and positive. 
That being said, all of this time to think has also left me with time to worry about all the things that could go wrong. This morning for instance I slipped in the shower, and had I not caught myself I am sure I would have broken a bone or two...  what would have happened to my trip then? Its easy to look for the things that could go wrong, to live out of fear (see last post) but of course that is no way to live. So tomorrow new beginnings.




Saying Goodbye
Before that though I'd like to acknowledge that I could not have done any of this without a lot of you. I know this is a public blog and there may be people reading who don't really know me, but this part of the post is for those who have my heart. Its still yours, even if it is another country. 
See video (updated later)
http://youtu.be/sI6bPMOd_mQ.  
Closure
Morbidly I have thought recently that if some tragedy occurred and I died in the near future... then at least things would have been wrapped up politely (done with work, finances in order, stuff all packed, goodbyes made).  I have no intention of dying, but the idea of closure is obviously something that brings people a lot of solace. As I may have mentioned in the video, I don't really like the idea of closure with people...because I definitely don't think of this as an end to things.

 I am not great at long distance relationships, but when people who are close to me move in and out of my life, I always assume I will see them again and when we do everything will be fine.  It has worked so far, so I assume I will see all of you again soon.

But there is a level of closure I have been facing lately. I donated and threw away a lot of my stuff. I quit my job and became unemployed on purpose (OMG!)  I have said goodbye to a lot of people I really love.  And in doing all of this I have come to a realization that I do want some level of closure on older parts of my life. I want to say goodbye to the side of me that felt stuck -and created expectations and routines that kept me that way.  I want closure with the side of me that didn't think I could do crazy cool things.  I want closure with the parts of myself that always felt exhausted and drained.

When I return, I want to see the people I love.  I want to be a part of their lives, and create community. I want to express myself creatively more often -through art, or writing or performance. I want to speak Spanish. I want a new job that is just as fulfilling as the last. I want balance and appreciation in my life... I am pretty sure this trip will help me figure some of that out... even though temporarily it takes me away.



P.S.  And because this post took the whole night to make (video included)

Here is a part of your daily horoscope for the Mon, 23 Jun 2014 :

Your health today

You need new energy to be in your best health. Fresh ideas about everything are cropping up in your head. Follow your inspiration. Let it guide you to new adventures. You are in sound health, so get out there and make new discoveries.