IAD to KIA | 2.13.21

I lucked out on the first leg of the trip from DC to ADD. The flight was packed but my middle seat became the window that I wanted when another passenger neglected to show. Thirteen hours bookended by strangers would have been… difficult.

 The second leg, not so lucky. A couple was seated in my row / in my seat when I arrived. The gentleman in the middle seat was a giant. His hands seemed to belong to another time. No words were spoken. I was glad they left me the aisle.

Arriving in Tanzania was a blur. I was ushered through and out so quickly… I found myself nodding and following blindly. And just as quickly the countryside was flying by in that familiar foreign blur. 

 For a moment I was right there with you, my love. It is a year ago, hand in hand watching the Dominican landscape fly by. Only this was Africa and I was seeing Massai warriors in between motorbikes.

 I am immediately struck by the smell.

 Ancient. Earthy. 

 The continent seems to remind that this is where life began, the origin story of the world. A place to appreciate and tread lightly in reverence. If I breathe in slowly, my lungs fill with my own origin story. This is where my journey begins. I know that there will be another side but in the meantime, pole pole. Taking every moment as it comes means that the fear and the anger will also pass through. Enlightenment is so far and yet I feel it in the air. One foot in front of the other is the only way to experience the infinite loop that is time. Each footstep joins those that went before. Each footstep a prayer for redemption, a prayer for peace. I am struck that my strength will come from the upside down. And there is only one path and it is forward. Each step closer, each step farther away. 

My current paradox keeps me moving and looking up to the sky.