Something to Do. Somewhere to Be. Someone to Love.

I've been getting this intense urge to use my passport to it's full power. I have realized that a life living in the same place hasn't been enough for me. I can't blame my parents because they just wanted me to grow and be safe at the same time. I went to UIC at their urging. I also can't blame their lack of funds when Matt and I were growing up. My dad worked a ton and my mom has a hard time with traveling that includes being active because of her Rheumatoid Arthritis (a disease that surely shaped my childhood, but more about that later). We did the usual when I got older: summers at the lake and spring trips to either Jamaica or Florida.

Steamboat has been my first big adventure. It's been two years that I've been lucky enough to live in this beautiful place. I've made friends here and have left some behind. I got big into yoga, learned to snowboard, and later decided that skiing is much better (I don't feel like I'm going to die at every turn). I have felt the rush of skiing on powder and the tranquility of being alone on a trail in the summer. I just started climbing and want more. Coming here has done a few more things for me; I've found a direction and a purpose for life.

But there are some things that I want and need in order to further myself...I want to understand more about the world and my role in it. I think that this is HUGE and will come from experience, constant curiosity, and reading. I have to constantly remind myself that I'm only 25 and there is absolutely no rush. None at all. Life itself is compromised of experience and I'm sure to add adventure to that as I become more comfortable with myself.

Oregon, I have big expectations for you.

Back to the passport, right now I am thinking that I will spend some of my education money next September to go to Argentina; learn Spanish and ski. I also want to visit my friend Sally's orphanage in Uganda (Musana Children's Home). I want to go to India and practice yoga. We will see what happens...

Here's a random fun picture of me, my mother & grandmother over Thanksgiving.

"I was taught that the world had a lot of problems; that I could struggle and change them; that intellectual and material gifts brought the privilege and responsibility of sharing with others less fortunate; and that service is the rent each of us pay for living – the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time or after you have reached your personal goals.”
- Marian Wright Edelman