Day by Day...

This week marked the anniversary of lot of significant things in my life. I'm rather tenacious when it comes to certain dates so I thought I'd take a look at what this week has meant to me in the past. I suppose reflecting helps me see how far I've come...and also how much farther I still have to go.

This week:
8 years ago was my car accident and I was lying in a bed staring at a hospital ceiling wondering when I'd get to go back to school and if I'd ever sit up or run again.
                        THIS week, this year I got up and ran 4 times :)

6 years ago I started a week-long trial of eating vegetarian (pescetarian) and kept going. At Thanksgiving I recall my brother and father betting how long I'd last. One bet 2 months, the other bet 2 weeks (this being November, it had already been 2 months.)

2 years ago I first set foot in Azerbaijan and maybe wondered what I just got myself into considering three months prior I had never heard of this country.

1 year ago my parents arrived in Azerbaijan, I scarfed down one of my favorite wraps that traveled all the way from Maplewood, I got my parents to EAT SUSHI and MY mother (yes, that's Nancy Nevius) to TAKE 2 SHOTS at happy hour. I didn't sleep a wink that first evening from excitement of having gone a full year since seeing them. I STILL can't believe how lucky I am to have two wonderful parents who made such an undesirable trip to be with me.

In Just About...
7 weeks I'll finally be leaving Azerbaijan, though it's probably safe to say Azerbaijan won't be leaving me.
8 weeks I'll be taking a redeye to Madagascar; another country I probably never thought I'd go to...look what life can do.
12 weeks I'll be stepping back into the US of A for the first time in 27 months yet I’ll most likely feel like a foreigner.
14 weeks it will be 2011.

0 weeks and 0 days (meaning NOW)...
I realize how grateful I am for where and whom I come from because my family makes me who I am and I cannot wait to see all of them at Christmas. Even if it does overwhelm me, I wouldn't trade them for anything.

{If this was too mushy of a post for you, I apologize. Living in Azerbaijan has deprived me of many things and emotional connections so I compensate by [perhaps] sometimes overdoing it with my feelings. I also blame it up to not really knowing what's socially appropriate anymore. Sue me-I have no money anyway!}