there is still so much that i want to share

well, i am back from my mini digital vacation...ahhhhhhhh. that was really, really, really nice. bali has given me so much in the last couple of weeks. i have been sketching in my travel journal and filling in pages of my creative business journal like a mad woman. and, yep, taking lots of footage and acting like a total tourist with my camera in hand.

we have been living it up like rock stars, and with that, comes a price. not that we have spent our money carelessly --- but because it is so easy to spend money here. because it is so affordable. yet, it is also because it is more expensive than we imagined.

i know. i just contradicted myself.

but come to bali, and you'll see what i am talking about. perhaps it's the paradoxical 'ying and yang' that is so evident on the island of the gods --- that's my excuse, and i'm sticking with it.

so we are coming home. i don't want to. i wanted to stay. maybe not forever, but just for a little while longer. but let's be real. that's the hedonist side of me talking.

i have just gotten into a groove in the last couple of months, and just 'being'; just getting used to the mad, crazy traffic; to the difference in cultural habits; to the touts and having friendly, honest conversations with them, without shunning them completely; to accepting a broken infrastructure and the idea that anything goes; to the idea that there are no rules; that people cut in line in front of you --- and that you can do the same thing (if you really wanted to). i have just gotten used to being okay with it all.

everything else was a cake walk: surfing in warm, tropical water; eating delish, cheap food; hanging out with our friends; meeting other travelers from around the world; admiring the rich hindu culture; and embracing first-time experiences we've never had in our lives...oh, dear wanderlust.

of course, it definitely isn't all puppy dogs and ice cream. but there are many things about this island --- the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly --- that grows on you, and i am definitely going to miss it.

now, i understand, when other expat friends have expressed, "...yeah, we came to bali, with no intentions to stay...but after a while, we wanted to figure it out --- how can we stay longer? to live? to survive? with our family? --- and we just made it happen. somehow we made it happen..."

yes, i would like to come back. i don't know how or when, and i can't even imagine how much the island  will evolve within the next decade. or within the next year, for that matter. but i'd like to see it again, someday. like an old, dear friend.

but reality knocks. and responsibilities await. we miss our family and friends. we miss our moana. we miss camping. we miss the fog. (sheesh...did i really say that out loud?!) and summer's right around the corner, so perfect timing for work and play. and we are very anxious to start yet another chapter in our lives, refreshed, with new ideas and a creative drive that needs to be fed.

until then, i will continue to post my balinese adventures for the next couple of weeks, and probably well after i have left (because that's how much there is to see). there is still so much to share, and i feel that i have barely gotten started. so, feel free to check in as i continue to reflect about this dynamic, yet magical island that we call bali...until then, sampai jumpa lagi!