All who wander are not lost . . .

And so, the adventure continues . . .
I am headed to Roatan, a small island off the coast of Honduras, to fulfill a calling I have had since a close encounter with death almost four years ago.  This saga began on Cozumel while on a scuba diving vacation with my family in August of 2007.  Shortly after surfacing from the second dive of the trip, I was hit with an arterial gas embolism which was subsequently attributed to a heart defect that I was completely unaware of having.  I should have died from this event and at times during those first critical days through hell and back I would have almost welcomed it.  But I did not die.  By the grace of God and the knowledge and skill of Dr. Eduardo Garcia and his staff, I lived.  I left that small island broken into so many pieces to begin a long, arduous, incredible and continuing journey of reconstruction   . . . searching for strength, health, understanding, optimism and confidence.  And ever so slowly I am becoming whole again . . . reborn, renewed, released.  Finally I have arrived at a place that allows me to go back, to learn as well as teach, and to pay a little bit forward. And so I go.

During these years, I have looked to this moment as the place of coming "full circle" . . . the place of closure.  But now that it is upon me, I see it more as a continuation of the long and wondrous spiral that is the path of my life . . . not closing but opening wide with new opportunities and adventures.  My challenges have helped me discover aspects of myself I never would have known and have allowed me to become a part of things bigger than my own personal imaginings.  Everything has reason and purpose and now I know that I am exactly where I am meant to be. I am humbled, grateful, empowered and extremely blessed.

The islands are waiting and I am ready to wander . . .