The Backpack

In my childhood bedroom, now turned into a catch-all storage room, I gaze at this enormous army backpack—found at a flea market—which will soon become both my inseparable companion and my only refuge… It is high time for me to leave this society behind.

Even with my now minimalist needs, I know that despite its imposing size, it won’t be able to hold everything I wish to take with me… No matter. I’m certain that providence will provide for all I need—just as it already does today… This backpack will be my rediscovered freedom, my homeland, my church, and the culmination of a long and beautiful journey I never imagined I’d travel so far.

And perhaps, as the days go by, it will become a bag of dreams, a bag of adventures… in which I’ll gather sunrises and sunsets, birdsong, the joy of walking through undergrowth, and along ridgelines, sunrays on my skin, the wind tousling my hair, the sound of rushing streams, the scent of campfires, the taste of pilgrim cakes cooked with herbs from the trail, serendipitous encounters, my laughter and my dances in the rain… and all those smiles that light up my lips whenever I think of you…