Oh, the Places You´ll Go . . .

In order to get a visa for my upcoming trip to Brazil, I had to renew my passport a few months earlier than planned. As I glanced back through my passport, I was reminded of how much traveling we have done together in the past 10 years!

It all started with a return trip to New Zealand with Lauren and Liz ten years ago. Without a doubt, it was studying abroad there that made me want to see more of the world. And what amazing memories the three of us made in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, and Australia that summer!

It was the trip Emily and I took to Chile and Argentina that led me to move to Spain. I fell in love with the Latin/Spanish lifestyle on that trip and knew I had to live it, not just enjoy it on vacation.

And since moving to Spain, it´s been one amazing travel experience after another! I can hardly believe all the places I´ve been able to go . . .

I´ll be keeping this passport in a safe place, flipping through it from time to time I´m sure. And I can´t wait to see the places my new one will take me!

Nostalgia

• Nostalgia: a bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.

For a number of reasons, I've been feeling quite nostalgic lately. It all started with an email from someone that brought up many memories from about a decade ago - great memories! Emily and I also spent a lot of time reminiscing about the past ten years while in Croatia - our first few years in Denver, music connected to memories, our travel adventures, making the huge decision to move abroad. Last night Tessa and I watched the video Matias made after my birthday last year, which was such an unexpected and fantastic day. (If you haven't seen it, it can be found under April 2011 posts and is quite entertaining!)

I love how the definition of nostalgia includes the word bittersweet. When I think back over the past ten years of my life, there are definitely some things, people, and places that I miss and at times long for. But overall, I feel so happy when I think back to everyone I've known, the places I've been, and the experiences I've had -- it's truly been so sweet.

As the birthday that will take me "off the calendar" quickly approaches (yikes!), I imagine I'll continue to feel a bit nostalgic. Here's to the bittersweetness of it!:)

Past, Present, and Future

While in Sardinia, Tessa and I had many conversations about life, love, and relationships (as you do when on an island with very little to do besides sleep, read, and listen to music!). Something she said really stuck with me in regards to relationships - "You have the present and you can have the future, but you can never have the past."

When I first moved to Spain, I remember thinking about how in many ways, I was reinventing my life. I was moving to place where no one knew a thing about me - where I came from, my past, or what I was like before living in Spain. In so many ways, this was such an exciting thing! Although I was leaving a pretty amazing life in Denver, there was still something really exciting about the feeling of getting to be whomever I wanted because no one knew otherwise.

Although I did essentially begin my adult life over again, I also realized that I am who I am, especially at this age. I wouldn't take back any of my experiences and my personality traits, even the ones I don't love, are pretty much here to stay. I've also realized that it can be really hard to be surrounded by people who will never truly know what your life was like before meeting them.

You can tell story after story, share photos, and do what you can to make your past come to life, but it's just not the same. With new friendships and relationships, it seems you really do focus on your life together in the present and try to fill in the pieces from the past.

When Tessa and I first began this conversation, it was due to not wanting to know too much about someone's past because it didn't have, or shouldn't have, an impact on the present or the future. However, we also talked about how hard it is to never truly know or understand where someone has come from because you weren't there and didn't know them in the midst of that experience.

I do really believe in the idea of "living in the moment" and I still believe that it is exciting to have the opportunity to reinvent yourself and strive to be more of your ideal self. Yet, the reality is that our past makes us who we are and can be something that we want to share with the people we care about. But, since we can't rewind, I guess stories and photos have to be enough . . .