reading paul's post about his cambodia trip, one particular thought he included made me sit up and think -
that whatever it was we did, however emotional the experience, regardless of the high or the warmth or the everything that we come out of a marvelous encounter with, we always forget...
that sooner or later, as the usual-ness of life becomes just that, that sense of the bigger things fades...
even when another moving experience comes along and we are reminded of the previous one, it doesn't quite match it...
and that we forget the meaningful retrospectives on our fortune and well-being as we once more take it as a given...

perhaps how strong and overwhelming that sense is comes largely from the location and circumstance of the experience - in a different country, in conditions so different from your own that there is little to distract from just taking that place all in, and with ppl that, in these circumstances, show a side of themselves that is bigger, more open and more accessible than when in usual surroundings and situations...

that's the stuff that makes great trips, and i've thankfully had my fair share...

lest it be lost,
John.