Thoughts From My Sunday Train Ride

I was sitting on the train this morning on my way to church in Lugano, sipping a chocolate ovaltine drink, and listening to the clankety clank of the train on the tracks. I could hear conversations in Italian all around me and different random cell phone ringers going off every few minutes. I stared out the window enjoying the incredible view of the sun shining down on beautiful Lake Maggiore as the train sped by. I was tired and my feet were cold, but as I sat there...I thought to myself how incredibly lucky I am to have the life that I do.

It’s not very often, I think, that we really stop to reflect on everything we have and everything we’ve experienced and everything we hopefully get to experience.
The past two months have been challenging - emotionally, physically, spiritually.
From planning a work/service trip taking seventeen people down to our schools in
Guatemala and packing my entire life into two suitcases having bought a one way ticket to Europe trying to find the answer to "what's next?"...that I've slowly realized that I have what I really need.

I have family and friends everywhere who support me and encourage me constantly. Great, wonderful friends who out of the blue email me to tell me they love me and how wonderful I am.

I have had countless opportunities to see the world..to meet new people...to experience new sounds, smells, tastes...

I have a strong body...two legs that have taken me up and down stairs, hopping on and off trains and walking miles and miles with a heavy backpack strapped to my back.

I am on a continent that has given me more opportunities than I could ever dream of taking advantage of, and enough material to fill up a hundred journals and to satisfy my obsession with photographing every beautiful thing I see.

A friend said to me the other day, “Looks like you’re living the life you always wanted.”

“Almost,” I replied.

I never want to feel like I’m finished. I always want there to be something next.
I never want to lose my momentum, or my Faith that I’ll always be exactly where I need to be, with the people who need and want me.