So I'm home, and it's done. A summer in which I've set foot on every
continent but Antarctica wrapped up with ~457 miles biking in Brazil,
averaging ~30.4 miles per day over the course of 15 days. I'll be
home about 24 hours before starting a long haul down to Texas and, if
all goes as planned, into work this Friday, 8/26. Words fail me to
describe what this summer has meant, much of it not enjoyable but
every second fun in the deepest sense. I want, no, I need to approach
my job, my entire life with the ignorant, arrogant, wonderful sense of
confidence and curiosity that brought me through this summer. I've
now set foot in ~21 countries (U.S., Canada, Mexico, Ireland,
Scotland, Wales, England, Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, France,
Portugal, Ghana, Cameroon, India, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Costa Rica,
Brazil, Australia, New Zealand), more than I ever thought I would and
probably more than anyone deserves to be able to see. Hell, even if I
spend the rest of my life slaving away at a desk from "Office Space"
(which I won't) I'll still have the memories of these times abroad,
often lost and always in wonderment. You can't say that about a
stock, bond, fancy sports car, or anything else I could have spent all
my money and then some on. If I can have just a tenth of the
intensity of experiences that I've squeezed out of the last 3 months
for the rest of my days, I will have lived a life richer than I ever
thought possible.