hello, 2010

so much happens in a year, and yet it passes so quickly. one year can change a life, and 2009 certainly changed me more than i could have ever expected. i spent only a handful of weeks at home this year, but it is the thousands of miles and dozens of passport stamps that mark the inward change.

in one year, i have lived in thailand, bali, and south korea. in my mind, i have lived in a place when i have been there long enough to need a haircut (a strange indicator, i know). i have traveled through laos, cambodia, and malaysia as well. i took a special trip with a best friend through my homeland in the south while at home. i have left pieces of myself in all of those places, but it is the things i still carry--physical or not--that stand out the most.

how am i so lucky to have met the people i have this year? then there are the ones i have kept up with all this time...for one special girl it's been over a year and a half since i bailed on camp for a day and jumped in the van in my climbing gear to take her to the airport when she was leaving oahu. how fitting it is that the last time we were together i was in a harness and a helmet. that's what we need in our very parallel lives. she's the friend who is always mysteriously there. lines will intersect eventually. i know they will.

where will we all be in one more year? the island princesses, slashies, the boxfish, and the woo-girls? maybe slashy and i had the best answer to my mantra, "what am i ever doing?"

at the end of the day, i am always having fun.