A Chapter Ends

What can you say when a chapter of your life comes to an end? To say that we feel profound gratitude is an understatement. We are two of the luckiest people in the world to get to take 10 months and travel around Central America. What an opportunity and experience it has been to know more of the world... to learn some Spanish... to meet truly phenomenal people.

Without this trip, we would never have known what the chirp of a gecko sounds like or the beautiful sound of the K'iche` language rolling off of a Mayan tongue in the countryside of Guatemala. We would never know the stench of suffocating poverty within the city dump or the aroma of fresh baked bread wafting through the crisp, fresh morning air in the middle of a Central American rainy season. We would not know what it's like to look at a child and watch their face visibly change as they hear from you, for perhaps the first time in their lives, how loved and valuable they are. We would not know what a real cold shower feels like or the way a shirt that has been hand washed several times hangs limply on your body, much larger than its original size. We would never have been awoken at 4am by a symphony of firecrackers, roosters, and dogs barking. We would never know the true meaning of the words "public transportation" (if you've ridden on a chicken bus, you know what we mean). We would not know the real difference between pity and compassion. And most importantly, we would never know the true beauty and culture of the Latin American people on their faces and in their souls. A group of people that we have developed a deep admiration, appreciation, and love for. We just would never have realized how unbelievably blessed we are.

Yet, we do still feel great sadness... loss and grief, even... that our time of travel has to come to a close, at least for now. How do you hold a child who you can't comfort since they are crying because you are leaving without the memory haunting the corners of your mind? We leave a piece of ourselves with our friends in Honduras. While we want to embrace the next chapter ahead, it is hard to do so and at the same time still continue to process through what we have seen and learned and loved in a place so very different than the world we just left. One thing is sure, though... we are not finished with it yet.