The one with hoping for France

The farthest I've ever traveled from home?

Oh, France, definitely. My 18th birthday season was spent falling in love with French pastries, French beaches, French castles, French parties, French dialogue, French...

From the day after I arrived back home to America, I needed a day to recover from jet-lag first, I have been dreaming of returning to the country that stole my heart. My dream of simply returning grew into returning at Christmas and spending the holiday with my host family.  My dream kept growing and emerged on my bucket list.

I believe the time is coming for me to be able to cross something off of that bucket list of mine. That time may come in December. Here's to hoping for that chance...

The one with the new blog

I guess I finally feel as though I have moved on so far away from Xanga and  am finally feeling comfortable enough in my own skin again that I would like to start sharing more than just the occasional ‘status update.’

Here’s to my cyber-life post-Xanga:

Things in my world have been a little crazy and overwhelming the last few weeks, work especially. I had a crazy short work-day today. In the few short hours I worked, I was reminded of why I like my job. First, I talked with a family that I worked with a while back and they mentioned how in my time with them I had become “such a fixture” in their house. They missed me. And, I missed them. I think a visit is in the near future. Second, tonight at an appointment, the grandparents were there to observe. Typically grandparents are the least receptive and are the hardest to get on board with our technique. When I saw them climb out of their truck my mind starting assuming the worst. By the time I was leaving, however, grandma was commenting on how wonderfully I do my job, how impressed she was, and how grateful she was to have been able to meet me. WHAT? Tonight, I love grandparents . . . although she did confess that she likes to blame all the cats as the reason that her grandson has autism. Overall, I'm hoping for a good work-week.

Friends have become a large and regular piece of my life again. As often as I dislike (certain) routines, I love having weekly chats with my long distance best friend. I love reading books together even though she always finishes them before I do. I suppose I shouldn’t say always; I did finish Breakfast at Tiffany’s before she did. I love being able to call my co-workers friends. Along with that, I love that we help each other, laugh together, and share life as often as we can with as busy as our work makes us. I love that my college roommate and I can always pick up where we left off and that we have opportunities to visit each other and do silly things. (This weekend will bring said silly things and I cannot wait.) I love that I have friends around the world and that when I mention coming to visit them, vacation days are already being requested. Family has been a little bit of a struggle. But a good struggle. I miss the Cook family. I hate that I am too far away to grab lunch with my mom at the drop of a hat, or to plan to see Elton John’s new movie with my dad when it comes out, or to spend more time getting to know my goddaughter. Not to say that I wish to live in the same town, only that, sometimes, I wish that I lived closer to my family OR that I had more opportunities to visit home and be with them. The family that I have with me here, though, is fantastic. Matt has an aunt that cooks for us, takes us to see movies, gets us tickets to see Beauty & the Beast, and comes to our silly parties. My sister- and brother-in-law are super people and I love eating with them, watching movies with them, and occasionally playing Rock Band with them. I love that Matt has a set of grandparents to visit. I like to watch them when we visit. I don’t watch to be creepy but to witness their wisdom, their love, and their hardships. There is definitely something to be said about a marriage that lasts as long as theirs especially since they continue to admire and support each other. On another note, although I miss my goddaughter at home, I do love being Aunt Jo to little Ms. Abigail.  I love the community of Narnia and all it entails—Matt, Dharma, Obi, Darbi, Micki, Clutterman, Uncle Cub, Uncle Candy.

I have a lot of be proud of in my life and a lot to be happy about. I am trying hard to remind myself of this and to believe it even when everything seems shitty.

Somehow this turned out to resemble something of a Valentine’s post, despite my nauseating feelings for February 14.

Music of the Day: Dave Bazan; Mumford & Sons