A New Road

The more I live, the more I realize that the word courage isn't always as bombs-blazing glorious as it seems. Really, it just means you are about to do something hard. But anytime you muster up courage, you also know you are about to do something important, something that might end up defining your life. And so today, for more reason than one, I am hoping for a little courage to face a few new roads. I want, more than anything, for them to lead me to where I was meant to be.

In two days, I will fly over a big ocean and land in a country where I don't speak a lick of the language. My planned communication tactic is to flamboyantly use my hands when I talk and pray that others understand this universal language (if basic hand gestures don't work, I will resort to full-on charades). For two weeks, I will ride a most-likely-sketchy bicycle across Italy in hopes that I find happiness and hope and good feelings for my future in the small towns I visit, the plates of pasta I ingest, and the foreign people I meet. Maybe in being away from my house, I will start to feel a little bit more at home—namely, in my own skin.

 There's nothing more to say this week than this...Wish me luck, my friends.