All Packed Up and Ready to Go

When I think of what I will awake too tomorrow morning as I leave the plane in Barcelona, I can't help but smile. My adventure is ready to begin in about 45 minutes. Exciting, right?

This afternoon in digging through my travel file to make sure I was only taking the necessities with me, it hit me just how long I have been planning this trip. I found my notes from an 'Italian Travel' class I took at Emory in my first year out of school. That was a really long time ago, but hopefully the notes will prove useful.

When I thought of packing then, I imagined traveling with a fabulous wardrobe in a gigantic suitcases, maybe even two. Now it just seems like too much... to carry, to think about, to worry about, to be tied down with. It's just too much. As I think about my little wheelie bag waiting on me back at the apartment, I crack myself up thinking that THAT is all I am going to need in the next three months. Because my life has honestly become 'too much'.

For so long I have been 'dual-pathing' my life. Planning to launch a career or planning a wedding vs. letting my heart be my guide and taking the time I needed to be alone in the world. How draining that phase of my life was! So for the next 65 days my journey will be led by my own intuition, and truly getting back to listening to what is within. No iteniraries. No prior planning -- well, maybe a little. And no jammed packed days where I can't hear myself think. This may not be my most ambitious trip, as in previous trips abroad I return thoroughly exhausted and truly needing a vacay to recover from what I was calling 'vacation'.

This time I want to slow the pace so I can really take it all in...and simply feel, and be, and do. For so long, these things have eluded me. I couldn't feel because I was so busy being a million people to everyone -- HR person, Graduate Assistant, Fiance, Future-daughter-in-law, daughter and sister in my own family, future-housewife, friend, partier, etc. etc. I have been so worn out by what others' expected of me. Now I want to do nothing for others, and truly focus on what I want to be for me. No one else, just me.

My bag is packed. My soul is ready. And my mind is in the right place. This journey is ready for the picking...and now I must go.

See you in Barcelona!