The suitcases are wide open, stuffed with clothes, covering my bedroom floor. Yep, getting ready to hit the road again. As per my last post, the travel bug still pretty much alive. Headed to Italy, then Portugal for a 3-week band tour. Just kidding, I don’t have a band. Just thought it sounded cool to say it. But come to think of it, a 3-week tour is kind of lame, no? Too short. So there goes the cool element.
Anyway, it’s really exciting to start the year doing something I love so much (traveling), going to two countries with so much history and culture.
My niece Mariana is in her last year of Law school and will study a semester in Perugia, Italy. She has a 5 year-old son (Artur) and was really nervous about getting there with a small child and luggage in the middle of the Winter (we don’t really have Winters in Rio, where I am from), and having to figure a lot of things out on her own. So I offered to meet her there and help her out, however I can. She may just need emotional support. And I am glad to offer the kind of support I wish I had when I left Brazil 18 years ago (see my last post “How did I get here”). Some days, I just wished I had someone to hold my hand and tell me everything would be OK. Now, I have a chance to be that person for someone else.
From there, I have a meeting in Guimaraes, Portugal (about 2-hour drive from Porto) with a customer of mine. So I’ll be spending about 4 days in Portugal, before heading back home.
Now, as much as I like traveling, the preparations can be pretty stressful. First, right after Christmas I got sick with a respiratory infection that’s still dragging on. At work, I have a new assistant who started about a month ago, just before the holidays, when our working days were broken. So I am in the process of training someone new who’s had barely a month to learn everything it took me 16 years to learn, so she can cover for me while I am gone. And I keep finding myself caught between understanding and impatience. Yet another life lesson: to meet people where they are and understand that we each of us have a different pace. But easier said than done!
Plus all the last minute stuff, pay bills, schedule kitty care, don’t forget this, don’t forget that, get subs for my classes, book hotels, tie up loose ends here and there. My calendar is loaded with reminders of services I need to put on hold and things I can’t forget.
But once that plane takes off, it’s like magic: everything seems to fade away. Suddenly there are these new possibilities, open roads, opportunities to meet new people and learn new things, and expand my mind.
This trip is especially precious to me because I’ll be spending time with a person I deeply admire and will do anything I can to help and support. She’s an amazing young woman, with a wide open heart, so kind, so compassionate, so strong, and graceful. And so very brave – someone who won’t allow her fears to stop her from accomplishing what she sets her mind to. She takes the obstacles that are placed on her path as leverage to get to the next level. So, it’s a privilege to spend time with her and be of service.
Praying to Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, that we will have a safe journey and breeze through all we need to do. And we’ll need all the help we can get: basically we have 10 days to find them a place to live and a day care center for Artur. The college confirmed her acceptance very last minute, right before Christmas, and we were not able to get much done online. But we’ll get it all taken care of, I am sure.
I will be posting more in the upcoming weeks. I am sure I’ll have lots to share. Looking forward to reading your comments/ shared experiences.
The Cosmic Yes 