Member-only story
On the road again
With memories of those we’ve lost
Content warning: References to death and grief.
It’s Nepal this time. A seven year gap though, actually a bit more than that since I last went on an adventure.
Unfortunately this one couldn’t have come at a better time.
There have been a few testing moments already this year, but the most recent one drained me. We lost an impressive young man in the making.
At points I lost drive, will, hope and inspiration to continue with the youth club, with relationships and with trying to improve and change things for the better. Or what I believe the better is.
During those moments when I could actually focus, I started remembering those other testing times. Those other people I’d met who had died so young.
One of my sister’s close friends collapsed and never got up. A co-traveller in Argentina was knocked off her bike in Peru and passed away. A fellow volunteer in Cambodia couldn’t escape the currents at a beach. A hiker and LOTR fan fought off cancer once, but at one point could no longer.
I remember each of their smiles, for adventure, challenge and joy, in whatever form they could find.
