rich from the journey

I think that Dean must be in cahoots with iTunes. (And Katie, too.) Because so often when I leave yoga (and a massage) I am introduced to a new song. Which has a message so powerful or a tune so resonating that I find my way to my computer that very day and seek it out on iTunes. Things could be worse. My music library is all the richer and varied and more meaningful thanks to the two of them.
Tonight the song was the lyrical version of the post I've been wanting to write since last week. Since St. Andrew's Day. My 16th St. Andrew's Day. Which is significant because 16 years sounds like a long time - where has it gone? But also because at St. Andrew's, on your 16th St. Andrew's Day you receive the pendant that I've posted here. A sweet, sweet symbol for me of love and friendship and my passions and my job and challenges and struggles and growth and community and, and, and...there is just so much there.
So much there that the song that Dean played at the end of yoga tonight summed it up. I am "rich from (my) journey" at St. Andrew's. I'm not going anywhere, at least not as far as I know, but I do feel like I'm looking out on some new horizon at St. Andrew's. Maybe it's because Lucy is leaving and that will take us into a new chapter as a school. Maybe it is because the college counseling office is expanding next year and so I know that will take that program to a new level...and me to a new place in terms of everything from work space to work responsibilities. Maybe I just don't know. Maybe it's just a feeling. A feeling of being rich from the journey thus far and amply supplied for the journey ahead. Thanks to Kimmie Rhodes for saying it better than I can...
"Rich from the Journey"
We stood before the waving sea
and stared at vast infinity,
and praised the life that brought us here
to take our ride upon this sphere,
for when we reach the distant shore I know we'll be returning,
rich from the journey
rich from the journey.

You never know what's up ahead.
The tempest rolls and the skies are red,
but, off into the world that waits
between tomorrow and today,
to seek our fortunes and our fates, driven by this yearning,
to be rich from the journey,
rich from the journey.

When it's time to leave the harbor of this dream
we'll have a heart that's filled with memories.

So sail away sweet soul in peace.
Hoist your sails into the breeze.
Beneath these stars so hard to read,
Godspeed the winds that carry me
and tell my friends to look for me for soon I'll be returning,
rich from the journey
rich from the journey
rich from the journey
rich from the journey.