These diaries are among the most important events of my life. Although they are seven years apart, the journeys played important parts in my life. Going to Sri Lanka was my first adventure out of the US. I felt it was something I needed to do. I had finished college, worked a while, and started graduate school, but found myself bored with academics. The journey to Belize was an event I thought necessary to reinvent myself after working for some years and not being satisfied with my jobs, so I attended law school, graduated, and was deciding what path to take.
Over many years, I would take some time to convert my handwritten diaries into text documents. Attempted to publish them, but always stopped short. While rewriting the diaries, I was transported back to those places that stirred hidden memories, and I would stop writing, then start again years later.
With the advancement of modern word processing programs, I found it easier to continue producing readable versions of the diaries. Even today, because I wrote about daily events, I can still relive the adventures, even though I’m not physically there. It has been decades since these diaries were recorded. I know many of those whom I met and lived with have passed on. But their memories and pictures are still here with me.
The complete Sri Lanka 1977 and Bleize 1984 diaries will be available soon on the Diary Page.