In 2018, before heading on a 9-month solo trip around the world, I asked my sisters for a birthday gift that I could carry with me the entire time. They gave me a necklace with the engraving “immer bei dir”. It moved me deeply, giving me the reassurance that I am never alone, even as I embarked on this trip…by myself. I wore it the entire time, never taking it off. Throughout my trip, the meaning of those 3 words started to shift. When translating it from German, “immer bei d