Ready for the Wilderness
So many people live their lives doing the same things over and over again. They are stuck in endless loops of repeating futility. They wallow in boredom and monotony. Lines of clones marching down the street to their cells and tills and offices and broken dreams.
No child lies in bed at night and imagines this to be their future. They lie there and think of the brilliant things they could accomplish. Their minds fly through the world, winning trophies, exploring tombs, fighting terrors, reaching peaks. They save the world, love the world, and the world loves them back. No child wishes for the lives of the majority.
And me? I would lie in bed and dream of deserts and jungles. Darkened caves, and silhouetted mountains. Sunsets and sunrises. Tides and beaches and neverending rolling hills.
Now, my time has come. I am no longer a child that dreams of adventure, but an adult about to step into it. My bedroom is in a state of dissaray. Medical equipment, piles of clothes, camera kit, toiletries, sleeping bags, rolls of duct-tape, pens, pencils, novels, notebooks and foreign money is scattered haphazardly across my carpet.
Soon, it is time to leave. Soon, I will board an aeroplane in the South of England and soar across the Atlantic ocean in an epic 10 hour flight with 23 other excitable eighteen year olds. We will land in Tobago, then catch another plane to Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. There, we will spend 10 or so days sorting paperwork, visiting the zoo, swimming, playing cards, getting the rest of our equipment, liming (the Guyanese term for doing absolutely nothing) in our hammocks, and doing our food shopping for the next three months. Then, we split into pairs, and part ways. Rosie and I will board a tiny 6 seater aircraft and fly from the city to our remote mountain village. This is where we shall remain for the best part of 12 months.
This child is ready to fly the nest.