It truly has been far too long since I have blogged. Maybe not too long, maybe no one has even noticed my blog wall hasn't changed since November. But you know what? It hasn't been written on because I do believe I have taken that quote "Eat Well, Travel Often" to heart this last year. So sorry for not writing, I apologize. Maybe I'm just apologizing to myself, or maybe I'm apologizing to my experiences, because they have been grand and brimful, abundant in adventure and emotions. Or possibly I am apologizing to 2011 for not looking back over the year it was.
So shall we retrace my footprints while I was living as an expatriate and as I stumbled, gracefully yet not too subtly back into American sophistication (or shall I dare say the enlightenment of comfort, conformity, and consumption).
In the last 10 months I traveled 26,486 miles (thats 41017 Km, 41017057 meters and 134570399 feet). I went through and to 10 different countries on 3 different continents playing in 3 different oceans and 2 different seas and a few lakes and lochs. I climbed Cape Town's Table Mountain, rode a gondola to the Matterhorn a Swiss Alp peak and drove through the Colorado Rockies destined for Arizona's San Francisco peaks. I climbed castles, though none compared to my day at Buckingham Palace. I sandboarded in Namibia's desert and surfed its sea. While my feet traipsed city streets of Cape Town, London, New York City, Kansas City and San Diego - my heart fluttered every time I treaded small beach towns like Jeffreys Bay or Hermanus or Carlsbad or even the island of Coronado and the bijou foggy village of Inverness in the Scottish highlands. All awhile my tongue tromped through 7 different languages and a variety of delicacy and spirits.
Going from cowboys in Missouri, snowboarders in Utah, and the farmers of Nebraska I spent majority of 2011 with surfers and skaters in South Africa to be blessed by a community, blessed with their hospitality, their food, their time and openness into their lives. I saw stranger upon stranger as I trekked this globe, making my way through African airports I ended up in London town. I toured London with british boys, coached basketball in Germany and was enriched by the Swiss. Playing with soil in Scotland I got a fresh of breathe air before returning to England's refining ether. Ice skating in New York City, Thanksgiving in Kansas City, a wedding in Phoenix and snow in Flagstaff to reunions in Joplin and Christmas in Lexington to only welcome 2012 with figs, lavender, honey and whiskey in San Diego's down town.
I've been up close and personal with whales (South African humpbacks and California's Grays) Swiss bears and African horses with dolphins, seals, lions, penguins and pelicans. I've rode a bike (3), a tandem bicycle, a scooter, a taxi (3), a double-decker (too many too count), a German YMCA van, a train (7), a plane (17), a boat (2) and to not forget riding snowboards, skateboards, longboards and surfboards.
My 2011 was packed, jam full my dears. I mean that was just retracing my steps, I don't have the time (or the space) to fill you in on the stories I heard, the folks I encountered, the times I got in trouble, the moments I cried, the moments I laughed, the moments I saw God work. I was on mountain high peaks and in sea floor sea weed (literally and figuratively).
The hectic-ness I call life is explained well in my sleeping pattern, not just because I crossed through 10 hours of time zones but also because in 2011 I slept in 30 different beds.
How can this year even compete with last year?!
Well, I wrote a haiku (for you, for my blog, for my 2011 and 2012) ....
The last three-hundred-sixty-five days,
I Came and Went, Heard and Saw
Nestled by the sea,
Condoled by the one,
Comforted by nature's noise,
Carried by culture,
Seduced by cities,
Swooning over the venture,
Settling, never.
But now my feet stop,
Flagstaff you better hold tight,
I salute today!
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