What the journey is all about?

Thirty days, number the hours, number the days.

I stand upon the precipice of change.

A cloud distant coming.

Okay, enough shoddy attempts at writing for me. I just finished watching the movie 'Up' which, if you haven't seen it, please do. I realize it is a children's movie, but it is still quite good in my opinion. I found it to be a very interesting movie to watch, coming upon the last thirty days of my time here in Northern Ireland. So much of that movie is talking about not pushing off your dreams and realizing that adventures aren't about static goals, but rather fluid plans, bending and changing like the terrain of the earth you travel over.

I came into PRIME with goals, ideas, constructions. I came wanting to put my house on top of Paradise Falls (movie reference). But then, people/goals/troubles/talking dogs (movie reference) seemingly got in the way and diverted my path. However, just as Carl Fredricksen (main character of movie) realized, I have come to the conclusion that adventures rarely go the way we planned, but in the end, it is the Spirit of Adventure we sought all along, and it is modern culture that says we need a goal.

Did Bilbo Baggins find the adventure he thought he would take? Did Rand discover that adventures are everything that the ol' bards tales told of? Is there really an ending that makes sense 100% of the time? I don't think so, and I actually like it that way.

You see, the people I have met here, the places I have seen, the problems I have had, the joys I have been blessed with, are more of an adventure than I could have ever imagined. The hard part is letting go of my house (movie reference) so that I can have those side adventures. In fact, the side adventures ARE the adventure. Tangents aren't meant to be detours, they are meant to be untrodden rabbit paths leading to whole new worlds!

I have 29 days left really and feeling like I am on the home stretch has filled me with trepidation. Emotions wrap themselves around me closer than even my rain jacket does. But these are my companions at the moment and if this past 5 months have taught me anything, it is that seeking dreams is rarely fantasy, but a hard reality that can weigh you down. The trick is to, while your back is bent, notice the flowers growing along the path you trod.

A great silence overcomes me,

and I wonder why I ever thought

to use language.

-Rumi