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I visited my cousin in Mandalay, Myanmar. He was able to get some time off from work, but not a lot of it. There was a lot to do around Mandalay, but after a few days, I was itching to explore. I took an overnight bus to a city about 45 minutes outside of Nyaung Shwe and then found a taxi (truck with about 30 others) down to the town.

The best way to tour most places is by renting a bike. I found a place that would let me rent a bike for just under one dollar for the whole day. I followed a long dirt road toward the mountains (well, mountains if you've never seen a mountain. We might refer to them as foothills) and spotted this beautiful child on a water buffalo. It was fun to watch him cross the river and walk right up and over the road.

It is easy to get wrapped up in our own emotions and forget that there is a world our there beyond all that we are going through. It is easy to let these times get to you and when they do, it can be hard to find a way out from the suffocating bind of those emotions.

I have been home from SE Asia for just over three months. It finished off a year that challenged me in ways I never would have imagined. I feel like I grow so much each year, but none as much as the past twelve months. The best lessons (albeit some of the hardest) come from pushing ourselves to lengths that we never imagined... and they come from our mistakes.

Decisions used to feel so inconsequential, so subconscious. Then I came to the realization that we are a sum of our decisions - our experiences. Our outcomes are based on our input. It's an interesting change of pace when you realize where you are is because of you. It is no longer because of the challenges of growing up in a broken family. It isn't even an ex that simply wasn't the right fit.

Each step, whether I falter or stand strong, there is something to gain - in every situation or circumstance, whatever is to come.

More!

But this is even cuter!

One more!