How Lucky Am I?

It has been a summer full of laughter and smiles, lessons learned and thoughts provoked, hugs hello and hugs goodbye.
It has been a full summer!

A month at home in the fresh BC air, three weeks in the hot Tanzanian sun and two weeks in the swirling UK/Irish clouds.

And now I am back!

One year ago I arrived to the castle by the sea overwhelmed, full of idealism and with a smile on my face.
This year I arrived to the castle by the sea overwhelmed, full of idealism and with a smile on my face.

However although the scene I am met by is achingly familiar, it is so incredibly different. It is amazing how much can change in one year. No longer am I overwhelmed by a rush of new places and unknown faces, instead I am overwhelmed by places saturated with memories and the faces of friends I have longed to see.
There is no doubt that I have grown in the past year. I have learned so much about the world, about relationships, about hard work and about myself.
And yet I have stayed the same. I still long to change to the world, I still laugh at things nobody else finds funny and I still marvel at the beauty of a sunset staining the sky red behind a stone castle.

I face this year equipped with a whole year of new knowledge.
I face this year with hopes as high as the moon.
I face this year knowing it will bring new joys and new challenges.
I face this year with open arms.

How lucky am I to have another year in a castle by the sea?