I certainly don’t know about the long lost relative part. There are people I have lost touch with over the years that I would like to talk to again but who knows where they are. As for the bold and dashing adventure, oh yes, I am so ready! We plan to revisit LA next year and I am already antsy to go back. It has been quite a year. It wasn’t a bad year by any means but I can’t say I’m sad to see it go. I think more than anything it was tiring. It felt like so many things were a struggle—like birth pangs or the period of sowing and struggle before you reap a reward. I told Margaret on the way home from London that if I truly allowed myself to think about how much time, effort, and energy I put into planning that trip only for the city to be vastly overrated, I would have a mental breakdown. When I had to work on my birthday, I think it all hit me like a fist to the face. I spent so much time working to make money and so much time outside of work doing research that it was painful when the experience was not even 1/10th of what I had hoped or imagined it would be. I can’t gripe that we were able to go. Good Lord, some people never even leave the country at all. And we were able to see some truly remarkable historical, literary and artistic things. I have never debated the relevance of that. When people would ask if we had a travel agent or a trip planner, the answer was no. It was all on my shoulders. And frankly, that suuuuuuucked. It begins to make you a dazed zombie and it also makes you resent the other people involved who are not pulling their own weight in the situation. So many things in life are learning opportunities. People gave me a lot of good, relevant advice but there was a lot I had to learn on my own. And some things that simply couldn’t have been predicted by anyone . . .
*The airline told us to be at minimum three hours early. We breezed through security quickly and had to wait for what seemed like an eternity. Then our flight was overbooked and we had to wait again for people to give up seats.
*There was a much longer than expected layover in Atlanta. We were so sleepy we could hardly stand up in Atlanta yet when we got on the airplane, no one could rest. The plane was FREEZING COLD and I felt like I was 100 years old by the time we made it to London.
*It seemed like everything in London itself was more of a hassle than it was worth.
On the upswing, it made me so happy to come home. I can’t imagine living anywhere other than America. Good luck to anyone else who wants to try it but not this citizen! I am so happy and so grateful to be here.
I went through that long digression to say that LA has never seemed so sweet. We have some good things planned—places to go, people to see, food to eat, booze to drink, capers to be lived through. If 2009 was a year of things not being what they seemed or not being what you hoped for, may 2010 be a year of things improving. I read my yearly horoscope a couple of weeks ago on my birthday and it was encouraging:
A Full Moon in your Solar Return chart marks this as a year of great personal significance, when major new beginnings, endings, and activities occur. This period is the culmination of a stage of personal growth and development. Various developments in your emotional, psychological, or spiritual life over the past few years are brought to a head through this year's events.
I know these things are decidedly vague but this one makes sense to me. I feel like there are some major differences between me at 29 and me at, say, 24 or 25. Good changes. Comfortable changes. I’m excited to see where things go in 2010. LG—life’s good.
