HOME

"I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn and we are lead to those who help us most to grow, if we let them and we help them in return... I do believe I have been changed for the better... because I knew you, I have been change for good".

It's been 11 years... 11 years since I've felt this way... felt cared about... felt like I could be myself... felt free... its been so long that I forgot what it felt like... Forgot that it existed. And somehow in a very roundabout way, life has brought it back... brought ME back.

I found something in myself that I lost a long time ago... that whole-hearted, loving, playful, and free kid that I could only see faintly along the dusty road in the rearview mirror... the kid who loved for love's sake, the boy who didn't care who saw him do something ridiculous, the man who wasn't afraid to cry.

This past week or so have been life changing... MORE than life changing. I've been torn down until I thought there was nothing left and then rebuilt with the love, tenderness, care, and understanding of people from literally all over the world who started as strangers and so quickly became family. I didn't know such a thing could happen in such a short period of time... or even at all. I've finally let go of being "Daniel Delphin" and on the very last night of my time with my new family received my new"playa" name of Dolphin... symbolizing the playful and free creature/soul that had been trying to get back to and that had been buried so deeply inside me under all the layers of "life".

And as I lay here in bed at 3 AM before getting up for a 6 AM flight back to my life in New York, I have to thank God/destiny/karma for reminding me what life is for... to smile, laugh, enjoy the company of true friends and family, to hug, to kiss, to care, to cry, to dance, to JUST BE. Daily life has kept me so caught up with the minute details of getting to the "light at the end of the tunnel" that I've forgotten to enjoy the ride through it... top down, hair blowing in the wind, with loved ones by my side, and a tune/beat we can all dance to together.

Maybe I don't need to get to that light... maybe the darkness of the tunnel isn't so dark at all... maybe I'm already exactly where I'm meant to be.

"I'm coming home, I'm coming home... tell the world I'm coming home. Let the rain, wash away, all the pain of yesterday. I know my kingdom awaits, and they've forgiven my mistakes. I'm coming home, coming home... tell the world I'm coming... home."

)'(