One Way United

I have not written a post here for 4 months. I would like to say it’s because I have been living life and been too busy but that wouldn’t be the truth. I have been in cruise control. I have been forgeting to take moments in and have wasted so much time doing pointless things. It took some random email to snap me out of it. It began like this:

“Dear friends and supporters of Safe Passage: It is a very sad duty to let you know that we have lost the visionary founder of Safe Passage, Hanley Denning. Hanley was fatally injured in an automobile accident on Thursday, January 18th 2007, in Guatemala City.”

I never met this woman but she was a true inspiration. Four months ago I wrote a post about Safe Passage and Hanley Denning. I remember feeling amazed at how much one person with compassion and dedication can accomplish. Because of her, 550 children are in school that otherwise would be scrounging for garbage at the Guatemala City dump. Her compassion for these children produced a snowball effect that shows no sign of slowing down.

She may have lived a short life (36 years) but a lot of people could spend a hundred years and not come close to making the type of profound difference that Hanley has. There are millions of people that live sheltered lives and are afraid to live with their whole being. By sheltering themselves, they avoid failure but lose their very soul. All of a sudden “good enough” becomes the norm. I’m sure Hanley could have been a normal teacher in Maine and she would have been just fine and would have made differences in children’s lives. But when she saw the conditions of the children at the Guatemala City garbage dump she knew she had to do something. She did not let her fear have the best of her. And look at the result. Her death is not only a sad time of mourning but a joyous celebration of a life well lived.

Sometimes I feel like I’m becoming one of those people described above. I’m living a sheltered life. The news I got today made me realize that whether I live a short life like Hanley’s or a century, I want to live it with my whole being. Their no guarantee when I’ll go but I want to be ready. I want to die with the knowledge of living a life with many risks, many adventures, and living with all that I am.

Hanley’s popular organization will continue on, a lasting legacy to a compassionate soul.

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So this is it: my final post at One Way United. I won’t say much here, but there’s plenty of other things for you to see. My spot on the people page has been massively updated. In it you will find an end of trip piece. Be forewarned, it’s pretty long and pretty personal. I was as brief as I could manage, but hey, I was gone nearly 8 months! You will also find a collage of my favorite pictures of the trip and some of the stories behind them. Should be informative for those of you who haven’t been following along (you know who you are ). I also added one last special album to the photo gallery so check that out too when you get a chance.

So at last my time here comes to an end. It’s been one long wild ride and now it is time to move on to something else…with adequate rest time in between of course. Love to all and God bless.

Always,

Adam

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I sit here now in my original hometown of Carson City, NV at my mother’s home having finally come full circle back to where I began. I have a lot I could say but I’m going to keep this post short and simple. After leaving Jordan and Antigua at four in the morning, I arrived at the Guatemalan International Airport about three hours before I was scheduled to leave. I occupied myself for a while and then was sitting about ten minutes before boarding my plane. This man who looked as if he could have been a local and dressed in full cowboy gear sat next to me and began rooting through his bag. He gave a start and then flicked this small thing onto the terminal floor. It appeared to be long dark insect. But as it began to move and people started to cry out in surprise it became clear it was actually a real live scorpion! It was only about an inch long and probably didn’t pose a real threat to anything larger than a grasshopper, but I found it amusing that a live scorpion was running around the airport. Some kid stomped it to death pretty quickly.

My flight was short an uneventful and I landed in Los Angeles, CA and departed the plane. It took about an hour and a half to get through customs and get my lugage, which I swear was next to the last one off the plane. I stumbled out into the waiting arms of my mom and her brother Joel who lives in L.A. with his partner John. We had a fun evening wandering around the Grove and Farmer’s Market, eating great food and pointing out what John likes to call WAM’s: Waiter/Actor/Models.

The next morning my mom and I drove Las Vegas, NV where my little sister Grace had just started her first semster at UNLV. We met her, my step-dad Randy, my step-sister April, her husband Steve, and nearly two-year old daughter Devin. We spent two nights chilling out and enjoying the ridiculous hot weather, impressive suite at the Rio, and some tasty drinks: martinis for the older crowd, strawberry daiquris for me.

And today we left early to make the long drive back to Carson. For those of you who don’t know Nevada, this is one of the most boring drives you can ever make. Picture long dusty highways surrounded by barren ugly desert for miles and miles. They probably could have built the road to go straight there, but I think they included a few turns here and there to keep the driver from falling asleep.

And now the my journey comes to a final close and the next stage of life can begin, after a lenghty rest of course. I still have one more post coming up though so don’t write me off just yet! I’ve also put up some more picture of Caxijay so be sure to check them out too. Later all!

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