They never said it would be easy...

(I'm not sure why this never posted...)

Here we are. It's the one month mark. I've been off the ship for exactly a month, disembarking and seeing my parents approximately this time on May 2nd. And I can't believe it's been that long. I've found myself holding solace in memories, looking through pictures but ONLY through Ghana because that's when it all got real.

So how do we go about this? Do we get some sort of chip, a "one month free from the best time of our lives?" Something to physically tether us back to the ship, something that we all have to rely on as the days, months, *gulp* years, and inevitably, and terribly, decades roll by?

How did I get here? Sitting in clothes that I haven't had for the past four months, attempting to type up more life lessons that I've learned on this trip. But it's hard. I try more foods. I've stopped a dozen times to help lost tourists on the streets of New York. I've learned to go with the flow and deal with things as they come.

But I'm sick of the stupid cliches. "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." The trip of a lifetime was great but now what? My closest friends are scattered to the farthest ends of the country. If I could drop everything and go back to the wine on the Great Wall, I'd be ecstatic. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, but heavier. Not a day goes by where I don't think about it, my friends, the ship, how much I wish I was getting rocked to bed. My sleeping pattern has (almost) finally regulated. I can shower when it's raining and not worry about getting slammed into the wall. It's also rained more than it did in my journey lumped together. I think it's just the combined tears of every past SASer falling from the sky at once.

Reminiscing is the best medicine. I met C the other day for Chipotle (I've had more Chipotle in the past month than we had BBQ days on the ship...) and while people watching on the steps of St. Barts, it was clear. SAS wins. Real life loses. Now that we've all admitted it, can't we go back?