In 2008, I quit my corporate job, sold off everything I owned and moved overseas with my husband Drew. Since then we've traveled around the world, started our careers over as creative types and nurtured our love of sleeping in late. Oh and we had a baby. Cole, our almost 2 year old has been traveling since he was four months old and probably knows more Thai than me (not that he brags).
Bocas Del Toro and a Thousand Starfish
I celebrated my 32nd birthday on Isla Colon, the largest island of Bocas del Toro in northern Panama. It rained in spurts and fits, then the sun would pop out like nothing ever happened. I rented a bike, traveled to a deserted section of beach, and sat on the towel that I draped over a piece of driftwood. I didn´t feel like reading, I just sat in silence, admiring the ocean. I noticed tan lines on my feet from my flips flops. A strand of my hair fluttered in the breeze, bleached strawberry blond by the sun. I mentally searched my body for how I felt. My shoulders felt loose, the tightening over so many years of bodily trying to tamp down my stress, gone. I was well rested. I felt good.
I think it goes without saying, travel has agreed with me.
Later I would take the 25 minute shuttle to Playa del Drago, home to more starfish than I could count. As we drove, I stared out the window, watching the lush interior fly by, dotted with the occasional butterfly or tropical flower. In Drago, the starfish lay on the ocean floor, burnt orange or brown, big as your head, resting between the inevitable tourist, who all have the same idea. Starfish on the head, starfish next to your smile, starfish as bikini top. Click, click, click.
Back at the hotel, I didn´t tell anyone about my birthday. Instead I sat on the roof top balcony and wrote for a few hours, until I was pulled into a conversation. ¨I´m graduating college this spring, and I´m not sure what I´m going to do. I wish I could find someway to travel and make a living.¨ You can, you can, you can. But you´ll never believe me until after you´ve done it. Even then, you won´t believe it.
I was swimming with starfish, floating and bobbing, and completely aware of where I was. Panama. Bocas del Toro. Isla Colon. Playa del Drago. A thousand miles away from my old life that is quickly becoming blurry to me. I can´t remember with clarity the icy panic of quitting my job. It was so important, so scary, it felt like my every breathe was conflicted. Breathe in. What am I doing? Breathe out. It´s okay, it will be fine.
¨When do you go back to the US¨ Never. I smile. That´s as good of an answer as any.