Day 16 - Coming Home

"What do you want to do today?", Aneesh asked. I told him I wanted to see my family. Aneesh understood. Without any hesitation, we looked up trains from Madurai to Chennai.

After a four hour night drive to Madurai, eight hours on an overnight train to Chennai, two hour flight to Bombay, seven hour flight to Istanbul, and a thirteen hour flight to Houston, with layovers in between. I was exhausted, but you could never tell. Behind the exhaustion, was a spirit and energy rediscovered.

There are scenes from traveling that come spilling over into my consciousness that I feel I can express in vivid detail like a lucid dream. These scenes are what you travel for. Somewhat unexpectedly, not something part of the itinerary but sort of sneak up on you when you hadn't hardly noticed that this is your life now. In that present moment, you can laugh again, feel again, see yourself and everything that bounds this universe together like the breath in the middle of a forest in a cool morning with the sun piercing through the trees enough to reveal her secrets.

In the coming days, I will write about Aneesh, a Christian-Hindu that redefined for me what it means to practice what you preach without any words. I will write about Aneesh's family because of what they made me realize – the sacredness of family and the love therein. I will write about the giardia, the fever, and the concussion and how socialized medicine and a local hospital can take great care of its patients without the need for insurance. I will write about the kindness of Deepak at Little Cola Beach and the mother's love for her son I met on Agonda Beach while the sun was setting. I will write about the young men and their aspirations whom I rode the off-road jeep for a sunrise hike. I will write about Marziyah and her Dad, and their beautiful farm just north of Bombay, and what genuine steps towards organic farming looks like in practice.

I've waited to continue to write, not because I couldn't find the words. No, it is precisely because the words came flowing out like a waterfall and I couldn't keep them bottled in a paper cup. And as they keep flowing, life's greatest lessons keep reminding me of the love that brought me back home and showed me who I was, am, and can choose to be.

To all the wonderful people I met in India, your kindness and hospitality knew no bounds – And for this, I am forever grateful for you and this warmth of being.