A few thoughts since I have some time on my hands

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain

So I found this quote the other day and was thinking about it when I was at book swap last night (thank you, Eyjafjallajokul, for enabling me to attend). It was great and, of course, made me miss living here. Great books, great girls, great wine/margaritas. The Rwandan book swap I started is good too but we have to substitute the wine and margaritas for Fanta and melange......... Anyway, I was there, sitting infront of the large pile of books dreaming about the day when I can read anything I want and any book is just a short jaunt away at a Chapters and someone asked me about Rwanda and said the standard "Good for you for doing it and taking a risk" or along those lines. I have to say that those words were so helpful to me before I left because, while the outside Anna was cool, calm and collected (Oh yeah, spiders and malaria. Ha ha! Can't wait....), the inside Anna was freaking out about making sure I had enough pairs of socks in my suitcase and money in my bank account. They were helpful before I left and gave me so much support. Now, I think Well, if I can do this, ANYONE can do this! And I was telling the girls about the flight out. The calm cool and collected person sad down in 23A (Window seat) on her way to London, looked out on the tarmac and said, out loud, "What am I doing???" I swear the my heart rate and sweat glands went into over drive and I realized (maybe too late) that I was moving to Africa for a year. I freaked out. I would say that I put myself out of my comfort zone and sailed away from my safe harbour. But I had friends and family as my life raft and their support made it possible. It is the best thing I could have done. In twenty years when my pension is a little bit lower than my friends, I won't think about the few dollars that might give me a nice latte. I'll try to remember how to say coffee in Kinyarwanda. A few years ago, I promised myself that I didn't want to live a life where I began a sentence with "I wish I would have...."

Maybe getting out of your comfort zone isn't flying to Rwanda. Maybe it's reading a new type of book or trying a new food or going to the gym and trying the free weights (okay, that's me. It scares me to try free weights. Too intimidating....). Whatever it is, if you're thinking of taking a leap and sailing away from your safe harbour, remember that you have life jackets and life rafts. Besides bed bugs, what could go wrong?

Explore. Dream. Discover.