The Perfect Morning

I woke up late today. Didn’t really get out of bed or my room until a little past eleven. Ended up listening to Norah Jones on the weathered old porch out front while eating Apple Jacks, eggs, and a nectarine. Ended up staying out there curled up in an oversized comforter, reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (yes, that’s actually the title), and sort of losing myself to the sound of the rain and the damp feeling of the wood and wicker furniture. It was just right. A lot this summer was “just right”.

At home, I got to reconnect and somewhat rebuild my relationships with my parents and brothers, though with my father most especially. We ended the summer with what I think will forever be one of my most cherished memories - a moonlit dance in the driveway, Dad singing harmony, me humming out the melody, both of us spinning, smiling for a million reasons.

And after that, there was Explo, which I can't even begin to describe. Suffice it to say that, for the first time, I've made a clear line between myself as an adult and others as children. And that I am infinitely thankful for the great generosity and humour of the staff as a whole. And more tired than I've ever been before. And incredibly calm about the future. This summer as a whole was good for that.

Self-defense lessons have let me regain some of my confidence. Grad school is now – for the first time – a viable option for me. As – I’ve confirmed – is teaching. Preferably at an international boarding school. Perhaps not forever but still - it’s nice to have finally not ruled something out and, instead, to have tried and enjoyed something and found it worth repeating. Which is why I’m 90% certain that I’ll be returning to Explo again next summer.

Aside from that...My domestic/independent side has come out a bit this summer and I’m actually already very much looking forward to having my own place. To choosing where to live (with my Irish citizenship and EU passport papers being pushed through, can anyone say Europe?), to cooking and keeping things as clean as I like… Alas, this is at least a year off and, for all intensive purposes, probably two years away. In the meantime…

I’m off to the Border on Monday and am incredibly excited to be headed somewhere fairly permanently. I’ve changed cities 4 times already this summer, and between this past Sunday and this coming Monday alone I’ll have been on one train and three planes (New York, by the way, was culinary bliss and well-worth the expense if only because I got to see one of my closest friends in their element. The Twin Cities, meanwhile, have been rejuvenating and comfortable, running pre-flight errands has been fairly easy, and seeing friends for the first time in 3 to 8 months has been fantastic).

But beyond looking forward to being somewhat rooted for the next 4 months, my feelings about the Border are somewhat mixed. But I hear that's what the Border's all about. And I guess it means I'm headed towards getting what I hoped for out of the experience, since I chose this program specifically because some part of me wants to be shocked, thrown for a loop, and to have my beliefs and perspective shaken by the marginal and all too often ignored. To - in every possible sense of the phrase - live in translation for a while.

And that’s what the rest of this blog will be about – my life in translation.

Enjoy. The first “Word of the Day” is the name I’m writing under here, Pecosa. It means Freckles :).