On the verge of departing for my “big adventure,” my heart is overflowing.  My friends and family have blessed me in abundance with many thoughtful gifts and gracious gestures.  As a result, I feel incredibly loved and am certain that I’m the luckiest girl in the world.  It seems that everyone close to me as well as virtual strangers have taken some type of action to ensure that I not only make this journey, but that I begin the journey practically carried to Asia on loving hands.  

It all started when I moved from Fort Lauderdale, Florida a few weeks ago. As usual, I was running behind and dear friends as well as people I had met only two months earlier surprised me by popping in and helping me get packed up.  My friend April even took 3 days off work to help.  She now knows that packing an artist’s studio is no simple feat!  A number of people, both old friends and new, gave me fabulous send-off parties that had me floating from Florida to Kentucky instead of driving.  

There was a slight hitch early on in the floating bit when the a/c in my car died, leaving me and my 3 cats driving in 90 degree temperatures. My long-lost friend Darren, who miraculously re-appeared in my life 2 days before I left Fort Lauderdale, provided us a much needed respite in Orlando in the heat of the day.  I was extremely afraid I was in danger of losing one of my cats who, after several minutes of severe howling that chilled my bones, just fell over on her side; eyes rolled back in her head and her tongue falling limply from her open mouth.  I truly think Darren’s hospitality getting us in out of the heat saved her life.  

In Kentucky, Julia and Karen graciously donated their personal training services to help me develop an exercise regimen I could use in parts of Asia where I didn’t have access to a gym.  They both declined payment saying that helping me made them feel part of my trip.  I couldn’t resist leaving them each some art work though!  Likewise, Nikki May, web-design goddess and one of my best friends, took two days away from her busy work to help me design and setup this blog.  (If you’re in need of web design services, I can’t recommend her enough!  She did the site for my art gallery several years ago: www.angledart.com. Check her out at www.bluefrogdesigns.com. She also designed the fun image of me with the passports at the top of this page).

In the past three months, I learned of an international online group of travel enthusiasts: www.couchsurfing.com. Through this amazing organization, I not only met like-minded people throughout Florida but have also become e-mail pals with several locals all over SEA.  The people I’ve met on this site, particularly Munawar from Malaysia, Eny from Indonesia and Steve, an American living in Thailand, have provided untold amounts of  information to prepare me for this trip. I’m truly grateful for their generosity.

And then the surprise gifts started rolling in. Knowing I am interested in learning about Hinduism, as well as other religions observed in SEA, my dear friend Michelle surprised me with a children’s book about the story of Ganesh, the Hindu god with an elephant head. My brother John and his fiance Maria gave me guidebooks and language books to enrich my experiences. My friend Glen decided that my 5 year old iPod was too old and too bulky for my carry-on luggage so he gifted me a teeny little iPod Shuffle the size of a matchbook in my favorite color – red!  And my astoundingly creative friend T. Roy gave me one of my favorite gifts – an experiential scavenger hunt.  I’m quite certain I’ll go into detail about this in a later entry, but it’s basically a list that he dreamed up of experiences to watch for throughout my journey in order to heighten my experience and awareness.  The list includes things like “Climb to a high point and pray for someone you love.” “Ring a bell.” “Make a piece of art and leave it somewhere.”  “Unravel a mystery.” “Create a mystery for someone else to unravel.”  His creativity really blows me away! 

The biggest gift came from my lovely parents, Bernie and Cathy.  Where do I even begin? The simplest way to put it is that at one point, when I was very close to giving up my dream of making this trip, they encouraged me and pushed me toward it even though it was not their dream for me.  In doing so, they set the best example of pure, self-less love I’ve ever seen in my life.  They are also storing untold amounts of “stuff” for me while I’m gone, but most importantly keeping and loving my 3 babies: Idgie, Maya and Everest.  In the two days since I left them in Paducah, Dad has been sending me the most touching “kitty report” emails to let me know that my girls are doing fine, settling in and are being showered with love and attention.  In doing all this, my parents have quite literally given me the world.  

Maya, One of My 3 Cats, Enjoying Mom and Dad's Garden

As if all this weren’t enough, many many more friends have called, texted, emailed and written notes on this blog to remember me as I depart and wish me well.  I’m so overwhelmed by all of these things.  I’m sure you can understand now why my heart is overflowing as I step on the plane to begin my journey.

I make an art piece entitled “Go!  The Journey Will Make You Well.”  The piece is a reminder that our focus should be more on the journey through life than on the destination itself; that healing of all kinds can be found along the way if we only remember to look. Thanks to all these loving people in my life, I’m feeling especially “healthy” as step off into the unknown because I do so knowing how much I am loved.  

I knew I was onto something when I learned that I needed to be vaccinated for Japanese Encephalitis before going to Southeast Asia. Hepatitis A & B vaccines didn’t hold a candle to how foreign and fabulous Japanese Encephalitis sounded. Maybe it was the inordinate number of syllables in the name or the fact that it was named after a mysterious country that made it sound so extraordinary and well, exotic. Let’s face it – Missouri Encephalitis doesn’t have quite the same ring. Or maybe it was the fact that the vaccine was so rare that Fort Lauderdale’s health clinic didn’t carry it and I was forced to go to a private facility that specialized in travel vaccines … and pay a whopping $600 for it!

Apparently my friends deemed the JE vaccine equally extraordinary because one began claiming that he was also being vaccinated for JE for his upcoming trip to Iraq. For travel to Iraq, the CDC suggests receiving yellow fever and typhoid vaccinations and the use of malaria pills for certain areas – all of which are admittedly creepy things to take into your body – but JE was not on the CDC list for Iraq. I held the exotic trump card … and my friend knew it.

This meant I was definitely on the right track. This place was exotic by anyone’s definition. I’d narrowed my first stop down to a place where the main road through town was called Monkey Forest Road. No doubt about it. I had found what I was looking for. Ubud, Bali and Southeast Asia were calling my name. I had no trouble understanding them through the funny accent. “I’m coming! I’m coming!” I shouted across the oceans. I’m sure my accent sounded equally funny to them but they understood me too.

In the fall of my senior year in college, I sat talking to Victoria who lived down the hall in our shared dormitory. Her mother had just taken her on a month-long safari in Africa. You know – the colonial throwback kind where African porters schlep in a bunch of stuff that really shouldn’t be schlepped to the outback … luxurious Persian rugs coddling teak dining room tables which are groaning under the weight of seven courses worth of priceless china. Who needs all that to go see lions, tigers and elephants? But oh my! While the feeling of modern-day colonialism twisted my stomach, I must admit that I also basked in the exoticism of it all. I was hooked.

For the next 15 years, while I endured my time in the dungeons of law firms and courtrooms, I devoured movies and books set in exotic places around the globe. These were the IV that kept my nomadic spirit alive until I was ready to launch my own journey … to Southeast Asia.