I have arrived.

It took me a long time to get here. By a long time I do not mean the plane ride or the cab ride or even the weeks preceding my departure. I mean the years I spent dreaming...and wondering. So I have arrived and I realize now that this dream has only just begun.

It is difficult to encompass my life here in Chile, but I will attempt to in the days and weeks to come. First I wanted to share a poem I wrote in my journal in my second week here on my third day working at the Hogar. It is true what they say, that you can only really learn and grow when you step outside your comfort zone, when you begin to experience something you have never known before. I realize now that there is so much left I have to know, so much left I have to learn and so much more I am capable of. I guess I the dream never really ends, even when you think you have arrived.



The waves were crashing in
and I asked them to subside
But everyday I would dry,
and then wake up soaking wet again.

At times they were far away
but waiting there in the distance
I could always hear them
lapping, pulsing, pushing.

I knew the storm would come
so sometimes i waited in fear
then i would feel it crash upon me
and drag me out to sea

I had to fight for air,
I had to fight for strength
under and under
wondering if i would see the sun

then i would rise to the surface again
only to be dragged under
grasping, fighting and sputtering
dreaming of dry land

and now I sit alone
sun and sand around me
it burns my scalp
and the sea is calm

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