Hello, Goodbye. Hello.

In a world where people move so far and so fast, in a world where a stranger can become a friend, it is not uncommon to say "Hello," "Goodbye," "Hello." It has been how my weeks have been since I started traveling 2 weeks ago. I have flown from NYC to Belgium where I rode around Brussels on a bike for a day then flew to Zagreb, Croatia. I made a friend in Samobor and hiked to an abandoned castle. I took a bus to a coastal town called Pula on the recommendation of this friend. It is the only other place where the Romans built a Colosseum outside of Rome. This one may be more impressive because it is pressed up against the sea that is a color blue I have never before seen. It is there that I met people that would become family for a moment while our paths crossed and we drove together down the Croatian coast, all in awe. From town to village to national park, we twisted and turned, laughed and ate well. At the parting we said "goodbye." And before I have laid my bags down again I had met a new family for another minute, and then another. And another and another. "Hello," "Goodbye," "Hello." I have worked my way all the way down the Croatian Coast. Stepped into Bosnia to see some of the recent history and feel the past in every breathe of the present and then returned to the water. Along the coast into Montenegro where I met another soul sister living and working, learning Serbian and remembering Chinese, trying to figure out where to move next. A story I know well. "Hello." "Goodbye." "Hello." Now just 24 hours out on my own, I have chosen not to connect even though opportunity presented itself. I have walked alone even though I have not gone more than a few hours with out a conversation with someone. "Hello," "Goodbye," "Hello." It is nice to be quiet. I wonder whose will be the next path I cross. "Hello," "Goodbye," "Hello." PHOTO from the bridge in Sarajevo where Gavrilo Princip shot Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand 1914.