I’m not sure which milestone is the bigger milestone. Today marks the 27th year of my life, of my past. Today also marks four weeks before our departure, before the start of our very exciting future. Only four weeks are left until we leave on the trip we’ve spent the last 5 years planning and preparing for. I’m not sure how I feel. Mostly anxious, I think. I feel nervous and excited, worried yet exuberant. Are we making the right choice? Will we land on our feet? Perhaps we’ll strike gold importing hammocks from Guatemala, or maybe we’ll become so disenchanted with poverty and indifference we’ll return home early…worse for the wear. Many have said we are foolish and many have said we’re nuts. One thing is for sure, we’re about to embark on a great experiment, one which will become the most memorable adventure of our lives.

A very wise man once said; “I love fools’ experiments. I am always making them.” Today, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of that man’s birth. That man was Charles Darwin.

I remember taking my first drive on my 16th birthday. It was dark outside and I was more than a little nervous. I made it out and back home and survived to tell the tale. I remember on my 21st birthday, taking a shot of rum (Cacique) in a bar. I remember it being awful and not wanting to drink the second that was already purchased and in my left hand, but I did and survived to tell the tale. Twenty-seven may not be as exciting a birthday as 16 or even 21, but my (our) gift to myself this year will undoubtedly be the most memorable. Just this week I heard Good Morning America tell me that youth is wasted on the young, I think I’m beginning to agree.

A very wise man once said; “And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” Today, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of that man’s birth. That man was Abraham Lincoln.

In planning this “departure from reality” I’ve often found myself thinking about the future. I don’t have all the answers; I don’t even have most of them. I don’t know what city we’ll end up in, nor do I even know in what city I want to end up. I don’t know how much this will cost. I don’t know if we’ll ever make back that money. But what do I know?

I do know I don’t want to work in a 9-5 job the rest of my life. I do know I don’t want to stare at a computer screen for 60 hours a week. I do know I prefer kayaking in untamed whitewater to squeezing in a morning jog on the treadmill, even if I can watch MSNBC at the same time. I do know one time in high school I was so stressed out that when I went to bed one night I couldn’t understand why I was so hungry…until I realized I had forgotten to eat dinner. I do know over the last 6 months, with the trip getting closer and closer, my spirit has become more free, my complexion clearer, my smile brighter, my aspirations higher, my health better, and my laughter more frequent than I can remember for a long time.

A very wise man once said; “Log off and live!” Today, we celebrate the 27th anniversary of that man’s birth. That man is me.