Veilige reis!

When I was much younger than I am today, my grandmother and I would sit around and daydream about all the places we wanted to travel. I most assuredly inherited my wanderlust from her (my grandfather, while lovely, is not a traveling man).

The place we talked about most often was Africa. We would go together when I was an adult, and we would safari to see lions and giraffes and elephants. We would stay in a grass hut and eat local foods and wear traditional saris. We spent what felt like hours talking about all the things we would do and see together. This was before I really knew anything about Africa beyond what I had seen in The Lion King, but it was enough to plant the seed of a dream. While my grandmother made it all across the globe in her long and fulfilling life, she did not make it to Africa before she passed away in 2010.

In a few hours I am stepping on a plane that will drop me off on a continent I have dreamed of going to my entire life, a place generations before me dreamed of going their entire lives, somewhere most people will never see in the entirety of their lives. I am overwhelmed.

And terrified, and excited, and humbled, and thrilled, and every other dot on the spectrum of human emotion, it seems. Not only is this a trip I have had in my back pocket since I was 6 years old, but adulthood, luck, and fate have conspired to wrap it together with my first foray into what I believe to be my dream career. This trip has all the makings of a defining life experience for me. I will not come back the same woman who left Colorado.

And you know, I think I'm okay with that. With less than half a year left in my 20's I have plenty of time left on earth (I hope),  but it no longer feels unlimited. I am no longer the invincable 17 year old who moved to an island by herself because, well, why not? It's time to start investing in something I can be proud of when I'm old. This is a bright and shiny beginning to something I want to cultivate.

I want to be proud of me.

All that to say this: I'm going to Africa today. And I'll be back in the span of a summer with a new perspective, new stories, and a new Mary forged in the heat of change. I do well in the heat. I look forward to seeing what comes out the other side.

I love you guys, and I'll see you soon.