I Am An Escape Artist.

I'm graduating from college in 3 months. Finally. These past four years have been the quickest, most drawn out four years of my life. Because I'll be the first Bell family relative to graduate from college (crazy!) my parents told me that they wanted to get me something special, send me someplace special. "Take a trip, take a friend," they said.

While my parents thought, "we'll send her on a cruise to some touristy island," my mind spun with possibilities of backpacking and adventure. It's funny because when I'm at home all I want to do is play by the rules. Give me my passport and a plane ticket and I'm a different lady.

Peru, obviously, was first on my list but I'm fairly certain that my parents do not want to spend $500-$1000 dollars on a plane ticket (which wouldn't even get me to the Amazon-BE STILL MY HEART!) That just seems silly. But really, I need to get out of here and go somewhere different, even for a week. I need to be inspired and moved. That sounds so lame and so privileged of me, I guess that it is. I need to be woken up by that hispanic culture that I love so much. I need to speak Spanish outside of a classroom and learn to do more than homework, Bible study planning, and arrive punctually (most of the time) for meetings. I need to be smiled at by people that I don't even know, I need to play with kids in eternally dirty clothes. I need to go. Massachusetts is stifling. I guess that I like to run when things get too hard or boring. Hah, that makes me sound so unpredictable, hard to tie down. THAT, that is funny right there.

Speaking of stifling, I need to write. Oh, this feels so good: the pounding of my fingers on the keys. This blog needs some life, some writing. I've thought so many times to myself recently, "Ugh, I just need to write." And then I don't. And then my life feels like it's missing something, and I suppose that it is. Writing is part of who I am, it's part, most, of what I do.

So, here's to writing & travel & pursuing the passions and gifts that God's given us! Oh, & new beginnings. Got to love new beginnings.