Thank You

Hello all,

I sent this out as an email but am posting this here in case I don't have yours:



Dear wonderful friends and family,

I wanted to take the time before I leave to give you a small update.

First of all, I have two pieces of very exciting news:

In less than 48 hrs the semester will have started,

And I have made my $12,500 goal!

It’s hard to express how enormous both of those things are to me. After almost a year of fundraising and excitement for the expedition, it is now becoming a reality.

Over the past few weeks I have been gathering all of the equipment I need for the trip: the sleeping pad, the long underwear, spare strings for my fiddle, and packing it all into the plastic tub under my desk. Just this morning I ticked off the last thing on my packing list! How great that feels!

For physical preparations I've been hiking for 2hrs a day with 50 lbs in my pack. All the while running in the back of my mind are imaginings of Ecuadorian mountains. After such a long time of being there in my imagination it's hard to believe that soon I'm going to be there for real. Waves of excitement and anticipation crash over me as I realize that this adventure I've been looking forward to for so long is finally about to start.

It's hard for me to believe that I'm done with fundraising. It has been such a huge part of my life for the past year, and being finished feels a bit odd.

But what a ride it has been: from the cold November hours writing my fundraising letter, to the blistering heat of July, fiddling in the sun; from wheelbarrow races for the sports day, to wheelbarrow pushing while doing yard work; from painting and marketing my cards to cooking Ecuadorian meals, it has all been an adventure.

If you could go back one year in time and tell my past-self "Hila, by next fall you will have raised $12,500 to go on a crazy adventure to Ecuador" I would have scoffed. I would think you were insane. "I could never do that" I would say.

But the truth is, I have. And it is thanks to all of you.

Thank you so much for supporting me so greatly: to all who have so generously contributed, who have hired me over the past year, who came to a fundraising event, who have stopped to drop a dollar into my busking tin, who read the blog, who have asked about my trip, who gave an encouraging word.

As I look forward to the months ahead I can't help but look back as well, I notice our front yard and remember playing "jungle" in the tall weeds, I see the hill behind our house and think how many times I pretended I was a mountaineer as I climbed it. It's only now that I realize I haven't been looking forward to this trip just for the past year—I have wanted to do this my whole life.

You have my gratitude from the bottom of my heart: without you I could not do any of it, I feel infinitely lucky to have your support.

Thank you for making my dream come true.


Hila


P.S. I will post a link to the new blog so you can follow our travels in Ecuador, if you'd like to.