So, I tried to do a day-by-day recap of this trip, however with dial-up like Internet service and extremely packed days, I fell behind. So I will summarize the high points of the remaining days of the trip…
A wonderful man and great friend of mine told me that I would have an epiphany during my trip. It’s not something that I went looking for or expected to just magically happen. It turned out to be quite a few realizations that happened over the duration of the trip. While you’re on the boat, there is a lot of quiet time to sit and reflect on your life. For me it was…what do you want to get out of every day, what kind of person you want to be and what truly matters to you? I appreciate how fortunate I have been to have grown up with loving, amazing parents, great friends and have life changing experiences, like this trip. I have met so many wonderful people in my life and others, not so wonderful. It makes me think of the movie Fight Club, when Edward Norton says he makes single serving friends on planes. If you can take something positive away from each encounter, it builds character and you learn what you do and don’t like. The point is you always have a choice. You can shake your fist at God for everything that goes wrong, or you can create a path for yourself that allows you to be happy.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, I ended up having to stay an extra week. I know what you’re thinking…how can you eat any more tuna? I’ll just have to find a way. Over the next few days we caught some fish, went snorkeling and played volleyball. Two of Andy’s best friends, Stevie and Mitch, came into town while the others left. The first day we went to Santini Bank and FINALLY hooked a striped Marlin. Apparently Marlin are the Holy Grail of sport fishing and I had heard some amazing stories from these guys, so I was dying to see one! It was so beautiful and the boatside release was amazing. I felt like my trip was complete! The remaining part of the week was filled with great stories, more fishing and great people.
I can’t even begin to tell you how much this trip changed me. It changed my perspective about the things that are really important and how easily we get caught up in the minutia of our daily lives. If you’re not happy, change something. If you want something, work really hard for it. If something great happens, embrace it. If something bad happens, learn from it and move on. Don’t be afraid of change. You never know until you try…