Almost Almost 30...

As I began the first full day of my 27th year, I had the same early morning thoughts that are becoming frighteningly frequent - should have said no to that last drink, cigarette, dance, bar, cookie... you name it, I was pretty much done with it. But, as the daze of the previous night's festivities began to wear off, I was struck by the absolutely amazing opportunities I've had over the past 27 years.

Perhaps I should explain with slightly more context - I meet someone new at least 3 times a day. In the process of throwing myself into this crazy, intense and wildly exciting expat-intern life, you hear yourself talking about your life as though it were perfectly normal, and seeing the reaction of your new friends helps contextualize things a bit.


Here are a few of my favorites:

• "Oh totally... Mormons are wierd... yeah I know, I am one... well, a reorganized one anyway..."
• "Well we wanted to go to the rodeo after my mom's wedding at the Howard Johnson, but we couldn't get tickets, so we went to the casino instead..."
• "In California we use the word "biernted" to describe this sensation."
• "Then as we were leaving the temple, I threw the sandwhich at the monkey before he attacked me."
• "This one time back on the farm..." (a particular favorite)
  









And a few other things I am especially thankful to be able to tell people about:

Seeing Ban Ki Moon, the new Secretary-General of the UN: (props if you can find me in this picture)






Swimming with one of these


Meeting beautiful and inspirational women in the most unexpected places









Swimming with sharks here








Coming from a family of amazingly strong and slightly crazy women with beautiful feet










Travelling to the ends of the earth and back with people I love intensely













Cassiopia, my level 42 Night Elf Druid (don't really talk about her much, surprisingly, but think about her ALL THE TIME)











Getting "Goosed!"












I guess I'm just saying that I've had a good run thus far, and I'm excited about what's to come...