On Top Of The World...Literally

I was 26 years old, and on top of the world. Literally. I was in the Himalayas staying with a local family who own the first-ever biodynamic tea garden in India.

Let me back up. I remember the day that I decided my life would be different. A teacher asked a roomful of aspiring dance students "what we wanted to be someday." After listening to all the girls chime their responses, I decided that while I may not know what I want to be, I definitely knew who I didn't want to be. I was bound and determined not to live in a suburb, as a housewife, with predictably two children. Not that there is anything wrong with that noble existence. It just wasn't going to be my existence...

I got the travel bug early, and found myself in Europe at 20. Three days after graduating from college, I packed up a UHaul and headed to Manhattan. It was the tail end of the "go go 90"s" and the city was simply fabulous. And, I was in love. With a city. With a job. And with a boy. Life was fast. Unpredictable. Full of velvet ropes, weekend shopping trips...in London, weekend trips to Puerto Rico...for a tan, beach houses, brunches, 9/11, shoes, sex, shoes, and more passport stamps. Life couldn't get any better. I actually remember thinking "My life is so good, and can't possibly be any better." A sparkling ring, a night at the Waldorf, a traditionally chic black and white wedding. A huge promotion at the tender age of
26. My head was spinning...life was that amazing.

It's easy to believe life is amazing when you have so many distractions telling you "you're on top." And so I believed it. Despite the pang of realizing something was a little off...something was "elsewhere."

And that is when I found myself standing on top of a Himalayan mountain with a shaman, who brought my world crashing down...