THANK YOU SAM AND ALLY (The Carol Edition)

This is a post by Carol, my stepmother. Although it is being posted just hours before we come home, it is NEVER too late to reminisce about the amazing time we had with her and my father in Quito.

See you soon, and enjoy:

It has taken me this long to write about my experience with Sam and Ally in Quito, Ecuador because, even though I’m a writer, there aren’t enough letters in the alphabet to describe it. What do I mention first? The beautiful people who are always willing to offer assistance to tourists? The scenery? The city? The writer in me wants to say that Quito is a city than nestles in the mountain tops. But in all actuality, it sprawls. A city of a million and a half people couldn’t “nestle” anywhere. But in spite of its lofty altitude, 9,000 feet, mountain peaks rise above it in all directions. The food? I write a cooking column so I really got off on the food. But it was the experience of being with Sam and Ally that inspired me the most.

The first page of my scrapbook says, “Eventually you learn that there is no destination to arrive at once and for all, it’s the journey “. I’d like to add to that “and who is traveling beside you”.

The first thing I noticed was the change in Sam—how much he has grown and matured. He has become a man. I know some of the transformation came about because of the hardships he’s endured along the way—lessons that he wouldn’t have learned in a lifetime without this trip or without Ally.

Of all of my experiences, and I enjoyed every one of them, the one I treasure most is getting to know Ally. She is such an inspiration to me. Not only does she have the imagination to dream big things, she has the courage and strength of character to make them happen. In another life, she would have been Amelia Earhart. She knows the importance of living each moment to the fullest and wringing everything it has to offer out of it. In this life, I wouldn’t be surprised if she announced she was moving to Mars to raise pygmy goats. That girl will accomplish anything she sets her mind to. Her amazing sense of humor and ability to have fun in any situation will help her to breeze through life. She knows things that people I know have not learned in sixty years of living, which puts her way ahead of the game. Nothing, (stolen passports, missed flights, hours of traveling on dusty roads in un-air conditioned buses, bot fly larvae under her skin) gets her down.

A grateful heart is a happy heart and Ally has learned to be grateful for the smallest blessings. She doesn’t just embrace life; she tackles it.

I’m so proud of Sam and Ally for taking the time to do something that most of us just sit around and dream about. I’m also a little jealous that I didn’t have the courage to do what they have done when I was their age. Being in Quito with them has shown me that there is a lot of world out there that I haven’t seen yet and it won’t get seen if I sit home in a rocking chair. So thank you, guys, for showing us around, interpreting for us, and teaching us it is never to late to go explore. We’ve made memories that will be tucked away in our hearts forever.

This is a rough translation of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote, but thanks to Sam and Ally, also, for teaching us that “to find adventure, you have to get off the beaten path and make one for others to follow.”