I haven’t blogged in a hot minute, which is surprising because I thought December was going to be a pretty chill month. Not so much. I got an unexpected – and not particularly desired – promotion at work, so my responsibilities have stepped up there.  I couldn’t even tell you what else I’ve been busy with, because in this moment I have no idea. It’s all a blur.

But somewhere in the midst of that blur, I turned 30. I’ve been alive for three decades. I don’t know how that happened, but I am most grateful. I spent most of my late 20’s fretting about 30. I won’t say I was needlessly worried – there was a lot of angst because I was going through a rather high degree of displacement and uncertainty during those years. It’s hard to stay positive when you tumble from a fancy job and a fancy salary to working at CVS for $8.50/hour while half your peers are pressuring you to have babies before you’re ready. Then you finally do find a good job, only to say goodbye to it as quickly as you started to bum around small town Georgia for half a year. You anticipate a more engaging next step before receiving the rather startling news that you’re moving to the other side of the world and need to adjust all your plans. Then add that the person you fell in love with and made the changes for is practically gone for almost 2 of the 4 years you’re together, and you’ve got quite the recipe for a quarter-to-third-life crisis and plenty of “what am I doing with my life, again?” moments…

But somehow, things have worked out. I feel much better now, and I think it’s because I am productive and doing all sorts of cool things with my best friend and love of my life. I live abroad. I’m earning my Master’s degree. I have a management position at work. Chuck and I have traveled to 5 countries this year. I have a PINK car, and two cats.  My biological clock may be ticking, but let it tick away. I’m largely content with the way things are for now, and I really can’t complain 🙂

I do have a lot to catch up on here, though – most notably my trip to China! I will definitely spend some time on that, because I have a lot to say about China (and pictures to share, of course.) I also want to share what Christmas is like in Okinawa, and a few interesting cultural observations I’ve made about the Japanese since moving here. I’ve been taking notes!

In the meantime, Happy Holidays! It is officially Christmas over here, in about 51 minutes!