Crunch time - oh how enlightening it can be!

Hello friends,

Life keeps moving on, as it should, and inevitably will always continue to do. I have been struck by realisation, understanding and most importantly, a bold new sense of adventure (which is perfect for this blogs name!).

Andy and Beauty (or Beauty and the Beard)

My parents came to visit Beauty and me here in the lovely city of Amsterdam, for a couple of days. We have been back here since the beginning of the month and have been feeling a little anxious about what our next move should be. Some limping had been done in the metaphorical sense, and we have been feeling a little drawn out by it all. I have been informed that this is very usual for the fourth month of being away from home. Maybe travellers have a name for it, but I don't know what it is. (if you know it then please put the name in the comments for this blog - thanks, I owe you a beer ;)

With feelings of adventuring fatigue, Beauty and I needed to be seen by my parents so we could see how far we had come ourselves. Perspectives, sometimes helpful, sometimes a hinderance, always present if people are around. For us, it was refreshing and helpful to be seen by people we hadn't seen for such a long time. When you see someone after a period of time, you always notice the changes in that person very clearly. For instance, my mum has been slowly turning her hair blond by a process of streaking, and now she has completely blond hair. This stood out to me straight away, and I had to comment, but if I had seen the gradual change, I wouldn't have been so aware of it. Like a child that you don't see for a few years, change happens fast.

Emerson, wise old cat, loves a belly rub and sitting
on my laptop case. What an amazing kitty :)

Anyway, as far as the relevance to me and adventuring is concerned, I was given an outside perspective on all the ways I had grown closer to Beauty, how we functioned as a "unit" (my Dad's word for us), how my creativity had grown and changed, but most importantly how happy we were. It's true, we are really happy. In a time when many people seem to be miserable, Beauty and I are smiling all the time. Life is great, in fact, it's flipping super mega awesome layers of fudge and creamy fantasticalness on a stick great.

Worries about places to stay and what to do get washed away like the contents on a european poo shelf (oh how I love the toilets with poo shelves). Focus shifts so quickly, and with such electrical energy. After being seen, Beauty and I felt liberated from ourselves. I can't think of a better way to describe it then that, it was a sense of liberation from self appraisal, freedom from self judgement, infinite happiness for the very existence of happiness itself.

When spiritual things happen to me I have trouble writing about them. I think this is mainly because it often looks wrong written down, the words fail to capture the experience with any accuracy and instead create either vastly over exaggerated ramblings or underwhelming word puddles.

I got a sense of what I am meant to do, what it is that drives me and will help me realise my dreams. Beauty got it too, and together we swum in the excitement. Now we go travelling for a bit :)

Peace and infinite love
Andy

Andy and Chiana (the red guitar)