I love you guys so much. So so much. So so so much.
Thank you for taking an eleven-hour overnight flight in the middle of a big move and complicated life to squish three people into a two-person typical European sized hotel room for a week.
(I love Europe, I mean no disrespect, but I realized that I have new living priorities and one includes having a comfortable gap of drivable miles between us in my future).
I didn’t think I was homesick but when that countdown hit ten days I was counting each sleep that put me closer to seeing you outside my dreams!
I am so happy that I was able to share a piece of my travels with you that photos and blogs cannot touch.
Together we gazed over the detailed rooflines of Paris from atop the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and the Millennium Ferris wheel and spent hours sipping hot cappuccinos on cafe patios.
I know I made you walk roughly 5,789 miles (according to your own personal tracker) to Sacre Couer and slept sideways, taking up most of the bed each night, so thanks for taking that in stride too.
Mom lost her ticket to the louvre, but we managed to sneak her in and I think we did a good job avoiding most other travel mishaps over the rest of the week.
I loved that we revisited the places Mama backpacked around just out of high school, experienced new, undiscovered sights together, and shared a dinner with my French host mother.
Part of me thought that when you showed up you wouldn’t recognize me, as if my Riley 2.0 would be in full swing, operating without flaw, and ‘unrecognizable’ from the original Riley who took off 11 weeks ago.
I was surprised to notice that I’m not quite there yet.
My mind, body, soul, hair, eyes, and taste buds have all changed. These were noticeable, even at a glance. But the compatible and transferable qualities found in a change of heart are what I’m most after. This is where all of my changes from my head to my toes tie together and make a new person that lives on beyond the semester abroad; My heart is my true compass, directing me wherever I find myself in life.
I need a little more time, a little more discipline, with an emphasis on conscious or purposeful direction to reach my goal before coming home, but I’m getting closer.
I love the changes that I have already adopted or seen, but I realize now that many of these changes are hard to conceptualize, as they are interpersonal, so this isn’t something I can lay out plainly or always account for.
Once again, I am brought back to my quest to change my life, grow my heart, and find a new Riley out here.
Thank you family for loving me, encouraging me, and seeing me for the person that I am, outside of any pressured expectations. Thank you for continuing to help me in all that I do and whatever crosses my path along the way.
And thank you for placing the challenge of change, taking on the mindset of a permanent student, in front of me from year one.
This isn’t a new idea, it’s something you’ve always taught.
I guess I’m just realizing that I will always have goals and aspirations and sometimes I may think I’ve accomplished or conquered them, when in reality they are still a work in progress and that’s okay! Two steps forward and one step back is far better than a stagnant state and it’s still progress.
So here’s to an ever-changing Riley 2.0 who will, Lord willing, live a future of multiple updates.
Riley Makenna
Compass 