TRAVEL STORIES

When I walked into the Mother Teresa Home for the Sick and Dying in Addis Ababa seven years later, I could hardly believe my eyes. Life swept through the compound through bright yellow and blue painted walls, volunteers dancing and painting the patients faces, and freshly made beds with flower-speckled sheets void of stains. I could barely contain my joy in the change. This place for the sick and dying, for the discarded by society, is one of the cleaner, happier places I’ve seen in Addis. I wandered to the children’s quarter, where I had spent a lot of my time seven years ago, looking for someone I might recognize. I wish you could have seen her smile. Her lips curled at each corner like a cusping wave and opened so wide that her pink gums reflected the fluorescent light tubes up above. There sat Sarah, with her same Italian nurse, and I felt overjoyed to see her happy and alive.

Somehow I found myself in the middle of Bulgaria in a town called Bankso. We stayed with my husband’s friend’s parents and their 21 year-old granddaughter, Nezzy. I was surprised by Nezzy, who spoke perfect English, a skater wardrobe, and an honest personality. We wandered into the mountains searching for the legendary UFO Jesus in an old monastery. We ate her grandma’s cabbage stew, sat by the fire, and drank rakia. One night, Nezzy and I had the most impactful conversation on me during my entire trip. We talked for hours sharing about the loss of her dad, and loss of my parents. We connected, cried, and laughed in our grief. I walked away astounded at the emotional connection that transcended our different cultural and language differences.

My head hit the pillow at 10 PM, but I didn’t sleep a minute. I kept having nightmares of floating in the water with blood swirling around me. I was going shark diving the next morning in Cape Town, South Africa. After putting on a 2-inch thick wetsuit, my mind went numb with fear, and I just mindlessly got into the water to witness the most awe-inspiring, magical creature, a 12-foot great White Shark, swim right next to me with hundreds of teeth smiling right back at me. Most adrenaline I’ve ever felt shoot through my body—a total mind-blowing experience.