There's a line in the movie Eat, Pray, Love where Julia Roberts' character says, "I want to marvel at something." I spent my drive home from Fukushima marveling at the mountains. Being from Ohio, any kind of landscape elevation tends to evoke awe from me. But these mountains are in Japan. I'm living, working, and driving in Japan. This is a place I never even dreamed of getting because it never seemed truly feasible.
I don't consider the rest of my life downhill from this, because there are plenty of other things I can work toward (that cute house in the country, for example, with chickens in the yard; having a pet cat or dog; publishing a book; vacationing in Hawaii; eating pasta in Italy), but I've never felt like I needed multiple incredible things to happen in my life; I've only ever needed one.
Taiwan was my catalyst. Japan is my one.
