So I am just about to complete my first year of full time teaching at the local highschool. There are 3 weeks of school left- 17 days to be exact- and I am already tasting my freedom and starting to catch my breath a little from the marathon that the past year has been. It has been challenging, rewarding, frustrating, and enlightening. Every day has been different, and every day has presented me with some kind of new learning experience.
As a reward for surviving my first full time gig in public school, I bought myself a plane ticket to South America. There have been moments during this past year that I've seriously considered quitting my job, selling my belongings and moving into my car. I've longingly envied friends who are living a simpler life, and have spent hours reading articles about people who have given up everything in order to settle into the freedom of a nomadic life. I've persisted, though, with the vision of going on this adventure during my summer vacation. I've earned the income to be able to pay off some of my debt and have a little extra to put toward my travel goals. I have been talking about going to South America for quite a while now. Once I started skiing out West in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and was introduced to big mountain skiing, I met people who were in search of an endless winter, and more intense mountains. It was then that the Andes Mountains of Patagonia came onto my radar. As the snow in the Sierras was melting, it was just beginning to fall there in the Southern Hemisphere. My departure date is a week after the last day of school, and my ticket back home is for August 4th. I will travel for almost 6 weeks. As much as I am excited, and proud of myself for making this dream a reality, there are still a lot of details that need to be wrapped up before I board the plane in San Francisco. All of my things from my current house need to be packed up and moved into my storage space. At school, final exams must be given, corrected, and grades submitted. An itinerary must be finalized, emails must be sent to those with whom I will be staying. Moments arise where I seriously question myself, and wonder why I am doing this. Why am I going sola to another place so far away? I will miss my family's annual reunion at the lake in the Adirondacks- sometimes the only time during the year when my whole family is together under one roof -my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, my sisters and their husbands, and my six nieces and nephews. Then I am reminded that something inside of me has told me to do this. And I always abide by my intuition. I can't say that I understand why or what the experience will hold for me. I just continue to trust and to know that as long as I am open to it- life is happening for me!
3 Comments
|
AuthorAnn is a writer, teacher, skier, traveler, and all-around adventurer. Click to set custom HTML
|