Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Looking Back One Year Ago: May 13, 2013

Tuesday, May 13, 2014



DAY 1-ish...(written on May 12, 2013)

As many who follow me on Facebook know...I am leaving on a trip for Europe tomorrow. The trip will span two countries and 19 days. I am scheduled to return on June 1st. My trip has two purposes. My primary purpose is to conduct research for a fellowship I was awarded through the American Council on Germany. My secondary purpose is to visit my mother and family in Germany...I have not seen them in...GASP...11 years.

Today and tonight I will be completing my preparations. Thankfully tomorrow morning I will enjoy the assistance of Davy Secondclasscitizen Beam in reaching the airport here in Minneapolis.


The "real" Day One. My friend is scheduled to arrive in 30 minutes. I have traveled so many places in my life (I have been really blessed!) that I have packing down to an art. I can assess the length of a trip, what I need to take and the luggage available to me and pack almost down to the minute of what I estimate I will need time-wise to accomplish packing. It's a bit surreal.

I'm super excited to take this trip. More details once I am sitting in the airport twiddling my thumbs....



Day One, Part II.

So now I am at the airport...and feeling quite proud of myself. My checked bag was a full ELEVEN pounds under the limit of 50 pounds. That is GOOD! I will have some space to bring back some leather from Germany.

Eleven is a timely number. It's been eleven years since I last visited my family in Germany. The last time I touched down on German soil (technically) was three years ago on my way back from Norway...and that doesn't really count!

Here is more of the backstory now for those who are curious...

Two years ago...almost to the day...I was visiting Maui to celebrate my graduation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. On the Sunday morning of my visit to Maui I opened up the Maui Times and saw a front page article focused on the Nazi legacy...a very different period in German history. Through all my travels throughout the world I have come to believe that we start receiving hints (which we will notice if we are really present in our lives) about something coming to us in the future before it necessarily actually manifests in present space-time. I don't know what the term for this phenomenon is...but I firmly believe it is real.

On that warm Sunday morning in Maui...as I read through the article...I felt a hint...an invitation from Germany...a door that would open some time in the future. I could not know the how or when that door would open...but my intuition told me that the door would open at some point...somehow...somewhere.

Fast forward nearly a year...to 2012. I was living in Washington, DC. I had applied for a fellowship with the American Council on Germany. Before I got the word that I was in fact awarded a fellowship I was seeing signs all over the place that evoked Germany. Whether it was advertisements on buses to travel to Germany or running into people on the Metro connected to Germany I was 'seeing' Germany everywhere. And within days I literally saw the invite that has now led me to the airport today, May 13, 2013, to travel to Germany.

I am deeply grateful for this day...and for this opportunity which has come to me. I pray I realize the full potential of this journey.

May my ancestors be with me, protect me and lead me.


Day One, Part III

My flight to Brussels will start boarding in 50 minutes. It's been an interesting day...and not just because of the trip I am embarking on. It's been interesting also to be leaving Minnesota on the day the Senate is debating...and will soon be voting on...gay marriage. When I arrive in Brussels tomorrow morning I will be curious to learn what the outcome was.

I send my and support to all my fellow gay and lesbian Minnesotans!

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