April fifth doesn’t sound like the type of day to change your life. But it can be. I was in a middle school language arts classroom trying to pacify energetic pre-teens when I learned I’d be headed to Japan in July.

I’ve been riding a wave of fatigue since I took a red eye flight to Atlanta. But each day since has brought incredible adventures. From the plethora of ridiculous road signs— including Tenkiller lake, Deaf Smith, Devil Dog Road, & Matachie, to the moments of ludicrous beauty. Where I believed that time stood still as the sky expanded beyond comprehension. I watched a pair of ravens weave together over the vastness of the Grand Canyon. A name that feels incomplete when sizing up the enormity of its being. I’ve lived and died and lived again in soul.

It hasn’t sunk in. It hasn’t sunk in the way anything bigger than yourself can’t sink into the perspective you’re currently occupying. Instead, I jumped into back to back soccer practices and work appointments for teaching. Maybe I will awake from a deep dream and know that I had put myself on this path long ago. Or maybe I’ll wake up and wonder why I still don’t feel like it’s happening.