The Circle of Life

“Por que recordar es vivir.”

– Recuerdos, Farruko ft. Lary Over & Kelmitt

Tabaka

A whole summer has passed, and I have returned to Cambridge — my intellectual and social home, where I begin all my journeys — slightly changed. I am changed by the things I have seen, done, and experienced while away in Africa; by the friendships that have helped me grow, and the solo expeditions that have taught me the value of my own company and the meaning of perseverance.

My return to Cambridge is not without an open mind and an open heart (and perhaps a heavier suitcase). I am excited by the prospect of engaging in future intellectual possibilities with equally eager minds around here, and by the thrills of a blooming romance straddling two continents, the future of which I cannot predict.

I have learned also that what goes around comes around: any good done will surely be repaid in this world in equal measure, and any ill will is never acted out in this life without its own vengeance waiting.

A sure sign that my travels have been a success is that I have come home loving it more than ever before. And that is the whole point of embarking on a voyage: to give oneself the opportunity to miss home, to long for it, and indeed, to appreciate the opportunity to return to it in the near or far future. For some people leave home, and then find that there is no longer a home to return to.

Photo above: taken in the town of Tabaka, in Kenya, where a soapstone quarry makes it a prominent producer of souvenirs pictured above.