The future's so bright.

You know when you need something to jolt you out of complacency? A poem, Aristotle, by Billy Collins did that for me today. Here are a few of my favorite lines:

This is the beginning.

Almost anything can happen.

This is the first part

where the wheels begin to turn,

where the elevator begins its ascent,

before the doors lurch apart.

x

This is the middle.

Things have had time to get complicated,

messy, really. Nothing is simple anymore. 

This is the sticky part where the plot congeals,

where the action suddenly reverses

or swerves off in an outrageous direction.

x

This is the end, according to Aristotle,

what we have all been waiting for,

what everything comes down to,

the destination we cannot help imagining,

a streak of light in the sky,

a hat on a peg, and outside the cabin, falling leaves.

x

Oh, beginnings and middles and endings. Oh, life. I have reached a certain level of complacency that comes with living in one place for long enough. I'm in the middle of my third year, and I feel I am reaching the end of my time in Guatemala. I definitely feel done with living in Guatemala City. Perhaps also Guatemala and even Central America...?

x

As I look into the future of 2012 and beyond, my personal options seem limitless. The future is almost too open, if that's possible. It's scary and exhilarating and worrisome and fun to think about where to go next. It's strange to think of moving across the country or across the world all by myself (well, with my trusty cat, Oscar) and start anew. Even in Panajachel, just three hours and yet a world away, I'd be starting fresh. I am considering Lake Atitlan and India. Anywhere in between? Austin? I just don't know and I need to be okay with not knowing the ending.

x

I just know I'm ready for a new beginning.