dream on.

Last week I was asked about my interest in international law. Once the conversation was over, I forgot about it.

Until Sunday.

With a heat advisory in place, I skipped a trip to the pool in favor of packing for my trip to India and Thailand. I couldn't find anything worth watching on TV so I switched on Netflix. Lately I've been watching a lot of How I Met Your Mother so I decided it was the perfect show to pack and clean to.

The episode I watched on Sunday saw the gang go to the Museum of Natural History. Two of the characters got in a bit of an argument. At the core of the argument was the fact that one of them had changed their goals and dreams from the ones they had held in college. There was a fake exhibit of the college version of the character, marked as extinct.

And it got me thinking.

Up until recently I wanted to be a nomad. I wanted to wander the world and live like a vagabond. If it wasn't the Foreign Service, it was travel blogging. It didn't matter what I was doing, as long as I was traveling, never settling down in one place.

But I realized that that me, the vagabond me, is extinct.

Am I okay with that?

Yes. I am.

I will always travel. Always. There are so many places to go and experiences to have.

But I don't want to run away anymore. I want something different now. In addition to adventure and excitement, I want stability. I want something that challenges me. But I also want to come home to my home and my dog at the end of the day.

And you know what? That doesn't mean I'm taking the easy way out, settling for a life of mediocrity instead of one of adventure.

In fact, it's just the opposite.

My instinct when things get tough is to run away, to jump a plane to a foreign country. But I don't want to run anymore.

I want to practice law. I want to be in a courtroom. I want to adopt a dog. I want to build a life and a community.

People change.

And that's okay.

I will always crave adventure. I will always travel. I'm leaving soon for a romp through India and Thailand with a stop in Abu Dhabi and a stop in Dublin. If I can find a way to make this happen on my current budget, I can find a way to make trips happen in the future, too. And it will be worth every penny saved and every sick day worked.

My dreams aren't dead. Not by a long shot.

So embrace change. Embrace new dreams. Embrace where you are now in life.