132- I See Snow

As I enter my final two months in London, I can't help but begin to seriously wonder about what will happen next. What will going back home to Manila feel like? What will being faced with actual tropical heat, traffic, and implausibly long waiting times, do to my psyche? Will I miss London? What will I miss about England once I am gone?

Will I ever get over Ebay and Amazon? And running in places like Regent's and Hyde parks?

There are many questions fluttering about. And I see snow. Well, there isn't any actual snow falling from the sky as of the moment, but there might as well be. It has gotten ridiculously cold in recent weeks, and while I am used to being alone by now, the "chill" associated with fighting off hordes of "introvert orcs", has begun to feel cumbersome. In the end, we all seek to experience some form of familiarity once we complete our respective "missions".

I remember my grandfather saying some time before he passed away that he wanted to go back to his home province of Sulu before calling it a day. For those of you who are not aware, Sulu is part of the southern section of the Philippines, a region that has been mired in all sorts of conflicts over what has seemed like forever. Needless to say, Sulu is not a place which you can "just go to" so long as you know how to work Expedia and AirBnB accounts. It is a lot more complicated than that.

My grandfather wanted to get a taste of something familiar and dear to him before walking off into the sunset. I don't blame him. We are all on borrowed time, and after working hard all your life to deal with the practical concerns existence tends to throw at you, all you want is a soft pillow upon which to lay your head on. Sulu was that for my gramps. I feel like I still have much to accomplish in my life, but let me tell you- I miss rhythms familiar and dear to me already. I miss those things about as strongly as I feel about experiencing new things. Given this, I guess I'll be spending a majority of the time to come both holding on thought chests with my name on them, and digging on and on, hoping to strike gold and managing to set up camp on previously unchartered islands along the way.

I see snow. Snow can be sad, snow can be mad. Snowballs thrown can be happy. It's all a matter of perspective.

Two months and change to go.

MC