Still, A Long Way to Go....

Another year has now passed by. 

As my birthday approached, I could not help but wonder how time flies. My mind raced at the speed of light (or faster, probably!) thinking of all that I wanted to achieve, what I had achieved and what I had failed to achieve!

It had been quite an eventful year for me and my loved ones. We had all gone through a lot together and had largely come out victorious and achieved a lot, with God's cherished Blessings. But to say that it had all been a cakewalk is a bit too much. There had been a few misses, which is again a part of the game of life!

I thought of my bucket list - the dreams that I have accumulated over the years and that thought made me real worried. I have still a lot, seriously, a lot more to do beyond the rigmarole of the daily 9-to-5, trying to make ends meet and keep up with time. 

I still have to learn French, a language that I find so sweet, a language that I seem to have an unknown bond with. 

I still need to go back to where I came from, my land of birth, Uganda, that I had left behind 31 years back. That made me a bit sad.  But then I thought - perhaps God is rightly delaying my visit to Uganda on purpose(?). I felt the same for Zambia, where I spent a good time during my formative years.

I still have to roam the world. There are places which are drawing me close like a magnet - the South Pacific islands - Fiji, Tonga and Tahiti, Israel, the Caucusus - Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, Brazil, Bhutan, Tibet, South Africa and many, many more. 

I sometimes wonder what draws me to places like the South Pacific and Israel so very much. I really go speechless when I read about or see visuals of the  South Pacific. I feel so strongly for the struggle of the Jewish people. Is there a past-life connection that is drawing me, more strongly with each passing day, to the  South Pacific and Israel?

The world has so many beautiful and enchanting places to see - so many sights to soak in, the sounds of Nature, which are always so peaceful. There are so many things to do, so much food and drink to savour. 

But I wonder if it would be possible to see it all in one lifetime. 

The irony of life usually is that during the working years one is healthy and capable to do all this but has little time and money. And then as years pass by, one earns the money and has the time, but Nature conspires against you - health and capability fails. 

This thought made me a bit scared. Will I be ever able to tick off on at least half of my bucket list items? I am being reasonable here in negotiating with God!

Perhaps, the only way is to pray for loads of health, will power and loads of good luck to weave all the ambitions into one tiny little lifetime. 

That was what I prayed for as everyone around me celebrated my birthday!