Vision Quest

Really 5 years after the fact I must say recalling this story means a lot to me, do you know the lessons that are hidden in the past that just wait to be uncovered? That’s what this story is about more than anything, self-discovery. Kind of nifty, that a journey can take place for anyone, at any time, with just enough imagination and sacrifice. While the trials that await are not clear a steadfast dedication must be made. So I at 18 wanted something more, something so absurd and ludicrous it ere seemed valuable. To travel, to see and still I wonder its worth.

Summer of 2012, I was working as a pesticide applicator. The marijuana was dense and the summer days were superb. Meditation and politics had become a new fascination of mine. The Middle East was full of political corruption with questions so tantalizing not to speculate and Alan Watts made such indulging philosophizes of life. It became nearly impossible not to dare, the world was happening at such a fast rate and there I was just watching behind a screen. Somehow amidst the thought infusion of hard work, philosophy and conspiracy going on the Camino De Santiago made perfect sense. So for that summer I saved my money, fortunately the pay was good, and saved up my meager monies for a round trip ticket to Spain. I am motivated but how could walking across a country translate into influence? Writing has always been an aspiration and literally walking through another culture seemed like a daring way to expose myself. That was one…. and yet another point was the journey, there is an art to life of being able to transform moments into so much more than just an interaction. One thing I remember speaking of often was how I would “Find a job, that job would allow me to travel and I’ll return with as much money as I left with”. So that’s exactly what I did, my flight left on October 10^th of 2012 and 12 days later I had found that particular interaction that would become just a little bit more.

Her name was Sunny we met on a bridge just outside of Leon. She started a school inspired by a life of worldly adventures with her husband and children. The school was a chance for parents to get their kids out of S. Korea for 10 months and see the world. They needed an English teacher, I had a life that was open and this fit. So for the next year India, Thailand, S. Korea, Canada and Mexico.

At 18 I traveled, dreamed enough to make a difference at least to myself. That is worth something and hopefully I made a difference to the kids. Every couple years Sunny visits me with her students in Utah so they can travel the N. and S. American continent. I also became good friends with her son Yun and a French Guy Maitreyan. Those relationships mean the world to me. They added so much more to my life that cannot be weighed or compared to, each experience forging its own depth in what matters to me most. Every exchange of truth, laughter and stupidity was genuine, it was human. I wanted something, even though that thing was not intended to change the world. It proved to me that I can; that doing something different was possible and that extraordinary is purely an act of the imagination. I learned a lot and still do from this experience to, my hope was that perhaps you had a chance to dream a little to. Thanks