June 25

I can’t neglect to post a little bit about Elliott Dykes. You know, it’s odd the people God puts in your path who end up later play a huge role in your life. For example, I don’t really know Elliott all that well to be honest. We’ve had maybe 30 or 40 conversations all counted together since I met him at Rockmont in 2003, and 25-35 of those happened that summer at camp. All it took, though, was one conversation at My Father’s Pizza to alter the course of my life forever. Before I met Elliott, I had spent a month studying abroad in Spain, but the thought of living overseas was something I had never really even realistically considered. I sat there that day eating pizza and listening to Elliot tell me about his travels. There was something–I hate to say it–almost magical in his anecdotes about this strange place or that wild experience. I was completely mesmerized. I was also saddened, though, because I knew that I didn’t have it in me to do what he had done so many times. And then there was an exchange I’ll never forget. I told him I wish I could change and be the type of person that he was, the type of person who could just up and move my whole life overseas. I told him I had all of these desires to do what he had done, I just wasn’t the type of person who did that. He said, “You know, maybe if you’re not that type of person, it would just be easier to change your desires rather than change the type of person you are.” He said that and my heart broke. I expected some sort of encouragement, some secret to making it happen. Instead, I got what I decided at that time was the worst piece of advice I had ever been given. That just sounded like the most depressing option I could have possibly imagined. I didn’t make any major decisions then, but I think that disappointment was the seed that grew into my desire to broaden my horizons. I will forever be grateful for that conversation.

Now I don’t want people to think that Elliott was meaning to discourage me from traveling. Any five-minute conversation with Elliott is enough to convince you that he’d love to see everyone travel and live overseas for a while. And had he thought that a simple encouraging word or phrase would have done the job, he would have been more than willing to offer it. Still, I know that without that lunch, my life would be something else.

On to the trip: today we went to the Parthenon. It’s sad, but quite often today I walked past some of the most important artifacts of ancient history with mild indifference. I definitely had the “been there, done that” attitude that comes with seeing something again. I actually was more impressed today with the distant vistas of the Mediterranean Sea than with the in-my-face presence of the Parthenon. I don’t know, it just didn’t feel moving today. Shame on me? I’m not sure.

I don’t really have a lot more to add here about my travels. It’s 3:20 in the morning and I have to be honest, I’ve just learned about Michael Jackson’s death within the last hour, and I’m absolutely devastated. It feels like a part of me has died in some way. I’m not trying to be melodramatic. All I’m saying is that when I was a kid, Michael Jackson was the most important pop culture icon–bar none. It just seems like whatever

ties I still had to my childhood disappeared with Michael Jackson today. Man, problems or not, you can’t deny his impact. RIP Michael Jackson.