Over the past few months, I have been diving into the book "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. This book is a compelling story of a young shepherd boy named Santiago, who desires to fulfill his destiny and wander the desert in search of a treasure buried aside the Pyramids. Along his way he meets a lot of various trials and also rewards. One of his encounters included an alchemist who was on his way to the pyramids as well. When Santiago told the alchemist of his destiny to find treasure beside the pyramids, the alchemist was entrigued and urges Santiago that he must fulfill this task. At one point along their journey, they are stopped by a group of robbers who threaten to take all of their money. While held captive, the alchemist exclaimed that within three days, Santiago would become one with the wind and display his importance and power. Sure enough, three days passed and a sandstorm engulfed the desert and surrounded Santiago, lifting him and the alchemist up out of captivity, and back on their way. 
Once they reached the pyramids, Santiago began digging, searching for his treasure, only to be hit with a vision of an d dream he used to have, of sitting beneath an aged Sycamore tree aside a church in Spain. He then travels to Spain, to where his vision led him, and to his pleasure he found his treasure of heels and gold, buried beneath the Sycamore tree.
This book was so entriguing to me, becuase it tells the story of someone who had such a clear, set vision of something that lay ahead of him. A clear destiny that he wanted to achieve. And through some bumps in the road, he reaches his "ideal picture" only to find that it truly wasn't what he was looking for. And his path changed to a different goal. This is just like in life, where we may think we know exactly what we want, or what's best for us. But in the end, our "ideal" may not be our destiny, and sometimes plans change for the better!
I really enjoyed this book, and I hope I have time sometime to read it again, to catch all the details, including some that I may have skipped over.
~LH
