Looking forward and glancing back

This photo I took just outside of Swellendam, South Africa. I think it is perfectly suited to my topic today... Change. Change involves both forward movement and remembrance of what you leave behind you. Change is the only true constant in life.

I find myself looking eagerly forward to the new adventure, which lies ahead of me. A new chapter is opening and I find it exciting.

I start a journey, which hopefully will continue for at least 8 months, perhaps the rest of my life. I will do something I have dreamed about and only spoken of.

I will travel.

This trip will take me to places I have been before and many places I have not. I eagerly await the new sights, sounds and people I will encounter. This is the flavour of life and I am ready to taste it.

But as much as the adventure ahead of me is exciting, it is also saddening to leave people behind me, to glance back at faces and places that have opened my mind to new experiences. It is these experiences that have shaped me into the person I have become, that has made me realise you should let each culture tell its own story and not let the news make judgements for you. You should have an open mind and an open heart and you will be surprised by what comes your way.

I have found friends, sisters, brothers, fathers and mothers. I have found true heroes.

I will always carry the love and care for those I leave behind to those I am yet to meet.