The Bracelet

             More than two years ago, in July 2010, I went to Chiang Mai, Thailand to take a TESOL certification course. It was an amazing experience, despite getting really sick and almost dying (that's not an exaggeration). Chiang Mai will always have a place in my heart. During one of our adventures there, we went to a temple called Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. It's a really beautiful place with the most amazing view of the city. Up there, there was an opportunity to get a white threaded bracelet tied onto your wrist which was blessed by a monk. I, of course, couldn't be touched by a monk since I am a female, so someone else was doing it for any female wanting the threaded blessed bracelet.

                The bracelet was nothing fancy, almost pure white with a tinge of beige. It was threaded in the middle into a braidelike pattern that covered about half of the bracelet and then the rest of the threads were loosely grouped together. I had to go into a room and get on my knees before this man who was also on his knees, give him my right arm and he tied the bracelet on.

                From what I gathered, the ritual probably had more religious significance to Buddhist people. I didn't do it to mock them in anyway, but rather I was fascinated by the theory behind the whole idea.

                The thought was that you needed to let the bracelet fall off naturally, because whenever it did, that is where you are meant to be... to live... to thrive. I may be way off base, but regardless, I somehow got that idea in my head about this bracelet and I've refused to cut it, despite how gross and discolored it looked.

                I often wondered (really, I really did think about this often) when it would fall off. Where would I be in life and what would I be doing? The threads were breaking and I have had it on for more than two years. There were so many places it could've come off.

                It could've come off at home in the states when I would visit, it could've come off in one of the 15 countries that I have traveled to. It could've come off when I lived in Korea for two years... and there was some serious dancing during that time so I wouldn't have been surprised. It could've come off while sleeping in a bed somewhere, or on the floor, or even in an airport since I have been in so many in the past 2.5 years. It even could've come off last week while I was in Disney world which I truly believe a part of my heart is. But it didn't come off in any of those places.

                I was on the airplane going to Bahrain a few days ago, and I was holding a pillow to my chest watching a tv show on the screen and I saw the bracelet. Then, I got off the plane in Kuwait and went to the bathroom while security was searching the plane, before I'd board the plane again to reach Bahrain, my final destination and I realized it was gone. It fell off at some point... but I'm not sure when. It never occurred to me, not once, that it might come off and I wouldn't know the exact moment. And when I noticed it was gone, I'm not gonna lie, my heart sank a bit. I'll never know the exact moment it came off.

                To you, it may not seem like a big deal, but to me... it meant something to me. I've always been a wanderer anyways, a nomad of sorts. So the bracelet became a part of me. Something that was blessed to keep me safe in my travels, and would make an "announcement" of sorts when I finally found where home was. But, it didn't work out that way.

                So I thought about it for a while, and then I let my interpretation of the whole situation take hold of me. I realized that since I didn't know where it fell off, that my "home" would in essence be wherever I was at the time, since it fell off... where ever I was at the time. Then my heart was filled again, because even that reinforced my belief that I want to always be fully present wherever I am. I don't think too much about the future, and the past has long been forgotten (I mean, seriously, I can barely remember yesterday). I am wherever I am, and now, I'm in Bahrain... a small island off the coast of Saudi Arabia... and man, am I excited about my future.

                I could say a lot about my first day here in Bahrain, but I feel like this moment was more important to blog about. Though I will for sure write about my beginning days here in Bahrain, my heart is still filled with a sense of joy because I really am happy that a part of me (that bracelet) was lost at an undetermined moment, at an unknown place... to remind me that wherever I am, I should always have my heart and mind fully invested in that moment in time. That's when I am "home".

                I am more than excited about the upcoming days... months... of my life. I am truly lucky to have what I do, to be where I am, and to be who I am at this point in my life. The more people I encounter, the more I realize just how blessed I am... for having traveled to so much of the world, to have goals ahead of me, to have a plan... and finally, to have friends and family in my life that support my sense of adventure. That know that I come and go, not to leave people behind, but to find myself along the way and hopefully grow closer even through the distance to those I say "see you later" to. I'm beyond thankful... truly.  I am the lucky one.

"You always said how lucky you were that we were all friends. But it was us, baby, we were the lucky ones."~ Rent

"I don't get many things right the first time

In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns
The stumbles and falls brought me here" - Lyrics from "The Luckiest"