Michael Carlo

While cleaning my house in preparation for my departure across the ocean's divide, I came across this obituary I cut out of the NY Times in the months following 9/11. It's the only obit I've ever cut out, in fact it's one of the few I've even read. But Michael's story hit home for me. We're the same age, he was single and his spirit seemed like one of adventure.

Saving Michael's obituary was my personal reminder to live each day to its fullest. The quote at the end of his remembrance is one of the all important reminders about pursuing your dreams, whatever they may be, and keeping what is really important at the forefront of our daily lives. It is so easy to forget, but as word of my journey spread, I was pleasantly surprised at all of the well wishes from those close to me and the strangers that helped equip me with gear advice and other travelgoers' tips on where to go and what to do.

What surprised me the most was how many times people said they would jump at the opportunity to take a similar trip, yet most had no upcoming plans for such an experience. Why not? Why did it take me so long to get on the road? Is this the reality of our busy daily lives, to live on the phone while eating and watching t.v. or staring at the computer screen? At no other time in history has humankind had the advantages (I'm reluctant to use the word "benefit") of more time saving gadgets, yet we are busier than ever. And do you also have the sense that time is accelerating, almost as if a minute is only thirty seconds now? Did I miss the time conversion memo?

So now I am throwing myself onto the conveyor belt of life without ties to Father Time. Will time slow down? speed up? become timeless? And how do other cultures experience time? Is perception of time just a by-product of culture? How much more efficient can we be? Don't answer that . . . and put the phone down while you're reading this, but if you have a chocolate chip cookie in hand, then, by all means proceed. I won't get in the way of such delicacies, but you have to tell me all about them because I don't think they've discovered the way of the choco chip cookie in India or the Asian continent for that matter. Maybe I will go down as the Marco Polo of the choco chip cookie after I open "Mr. Todds"? That could help the grossly unbalanced trade deficit. Sorry, I know better than to mix politics with cookies.

Perhaps taking this trip will mean that I am borrowing from my future and I'll retire 4 months, 1 year or ten years later than if I hopped into a new position straight away. But then again, who knows if they'll make it to retirement anyhow? And what do you do when you are retired (I'm no Tiger Woods)? I don't know the answers, but before I left the corporate law world, I got a lot of interesting nods of approval and hand shakes with the "good luck" wish as if I was heading to Iraq. At the very mention of India as a destination, I heard, "You're braver than I am." I began to wonder if there was another war I hadn't heard about, but after a quick sanity check (and returning the Kevlar vest), I realized it was just a matter of perception. That's all everything ever is.

My upcoming adventure has little to do with bravery. Bravery was epitomized in the actions of Michael Carlo. For me, I am going back to school with the world as my classroom, but this time instead of sitting in the back row, I'm moving to the front. Join me over the next several months as I share the people I meet, the stories I am told, the lands I visit and the experiences of casting away from the shore.

This will be my last entry until I reach Bombay on Tuesday, February 21. Until then, be well.