The Shaman's Last Words

What exactly did the Shaman say to me on that mountain top? He apologized again and again, but said that "I would leave the city I love before my sixth year. I would get divorced, and things would be bad. But, I would find the love of my life."

Now, I'm not sure if you believe in this type of prophecy, and I can't say that I did either. I left that village shortly after and headed toward Calcutta.

Once I was finished with business in India, I decided to head off to Thailand. My best friend met me in Bangkok and we traveled to Phuket, Phi Phi and Koh Samui. On our last night, we met two younger Australians who had just left home to travel the world for a year. They were both filled with wonder and nerves that we couldn't help but be taken by their carpe diem lifestyle. After an exchange of emails, and traveler's promises of "let's stay in touch. Visit us when you make it to the States," we headed back to New York City.

The trip did change me forever, and all the wonders of it are for another story. As I sat in the VIP lounge of Pink Elephant, bottles of vodka swirling before me and all my friends...it all caught up to me. Why was this New York existence making me happy? Was I happy? My mind drifted to the people of the villages in Nepal and India. The smiling faces of the children and elders. They had nothing, yet if I'm honest...they really had everything. As I spent $1,000 on a bar tab in a single night, I reminded myself that it would take care of 10 families for a year in Nepal. It was a passing thought. How could it not be? For those of us who have "everything," thinking about others who don't is only during the occasional money donation as a tax incentive. We don't sit back in our chic New York apartments thinking about the dirt floor we slept on only days ago. Life moves on, and we go with it.

It would be a year before those Shaman's words would catch up with me...