Day 1: In the books

I had no intention of doing this prior to this morning. I can't promise you it will even make it very long being that I've never kept any sort of journal/cute little diary with butterflies on the cover and a special key that I keep in the spine of my 1st edition Judy Blume novel. All I know is I woke up on an airplane this morning and saw this out my window:

Sunrise over the Andes

The image doesn't really do justice to what I saw, as it is missing the strong yellow and hint of green that completed the color spectrum. Anyway, I've made this trip from New York City to Santiago, Chile at least 

20 times and have never been welcomed like this. I find it fitting, being that this trip differs from the others in one specific way; it's permanent (well, that's the thought). 

I decided 7 years ago that I wanted to move to Chile. The reasons are plenty. To be closer to family and friends, to possibly start my own business (a lot more on that to come I hope), and most importantly to just feel freer. One would think freedom and entrepreneurship go hand in hand with "The American Way", but the freedom I want is from a conventional life and I want to start something exciting now while my hair is still more pepper than salt, not when I'm too old to enjoy it or even attempt it. 

That choice 7 years ago was supposed to be a 5 year plan. Year 6 was full of confusion and frustration. But here we are, year 'siete' and I feel like that picture above, completely serene. I have no clue how long I will stay this way, what I will do with myself, who I will meet along the way. I only know that when I finally start looking like Clooney, success or failure, I can say with a smile I gave it a shot. So let's see where it goes...

 

No signs of a receding hairline. Damn you, Clooney!

P.S. - I will try to keep this fun, include plenty of pictures for my illiterate friends, and wrap it all up with a warm fuzzy at the end like insert favorite 80's sitcom. I'll leave you with my personal fave. America or Burst!