Adventure is the Fool’s Journey

I am back from 2 weeks of travel in Ecuador! As much as it was a fun foray, I am happy to be home.

My friend Darcy and I explored the lava shores of the Galapagos and watched colorful birds in the misty clouds of the rain forest. 

It wasn’t all fluffy fun. We began the trip with a ‘bird poop scam’ and then a few days later were hit with a bout of food poisoning. The finale found us spiraling downhill from our hot springs plans to cure the altitude sickness that had taken our breath away at 11,000 feet.

This all offered a precious reminder of who I am when I am outside my homeland. 

By 30 years old, I had spent over 5 years of my life abroad and backpacked through Southeast Asia and India on my own for a year of that. 

This trip was one of my first global ventures in a long time, and it was nice to reacquaint with my younger self.

One of our first days in the Galapagos, sitting in the sweltering heat on a loud boat, a sense memory from 20 years ago flooded through me of that young woman who was giddy to set forth into seeing the world.

This reignited the Fool’s spirit into me.

The Fool is an adventurous yet naive wanderer, who seeks out the new and is open-minded and curious to learn and grow. 

I suddenly heard the voice of my high school writing teacher, Bob McHeffy, who would ask us, “Would the child you were be proud of the person you are today?”

I felt so grateful that the middle-aged woman I am is proud of that young adult who made a solid effort to explore the world.

Those choices instilled a well of youthful vivacity that I can still drink from today. 

I am also grateful to the stable and rooted part of me, my inner Queen of Pentacles, who I developed over the last 15 years. Because this journey also asserted that with age comes a higher need for creature comforts.

I appreciate the economy my grounded adult has built to afford the last minute taxi to take us back down a few thousand feet when the altitude sickness became intimidating. My pentacles self also had a lot of fun bartering at the enormous Otavalo outdoor market and reading cards for locals with the skills she developed.

I hope right now you will consider how you are grateful to yourself for what seeds you planted that you can feast from the trees of today. It might stem from very different choices than mine, and reap very different fruit. Take some time to ponder the wisdom of your younger self.

I hope that my little share here today gives you pause to thank your past self for what they created. Then relish your present self for who you have become.

To know where your inner Fool needs to explore next, sign up for a tarot reading with me this month!

Live Fully,

Jenna Lynne Roberts

Present Path Tarot

PS. Scroll down for a few photo highlights!