2015... and beyond

It's been a week since I got back from Seattle... how quickly not time but the perception of time can move. The trip itself was... one of those things where I have so much to say that I won't even try to write it all down. I know that's a bad habit, especially because those are the experiences I really should immortalise as opposed to insignificant daily rantings. But suffice it to say, the trip was good. Beyond good. Ever since we moved back to New Zealand six years ago, I have, to various degrees, always wondered what my life would have been like had I stayed in the States. What kind of person I would be if we hadn't moved back. Now I no longer have to wonder. And if I could choose between those two versions of myself with the power of hindsight? Well, I have no regrets with my life thus far so let's leave it at that.

My trip was full of such pleasantly surprising but utterly random and unique adventures! Little moments I have filed away in my back-catalogue of memories which I'll reminiscence and smile about later on in life... Sitting in a car listening to country music with people from Montana; sitting in a UW sorority house at 11pm, dozing asleep to the background noise of gossip and chatter; spending a morning standing outside a towering Mormon temple; giving impromptu talks to classes at a typical American public high school, only to find out the students not only didn't know where New Zealand was but that the seasons differ in the Southern Hemisphere; playing Trouble with the gorgeous children of an ex-Science teacher who has now become a treasured friend and confidante; taking a medical history and trying to diagnose my friend at 1am as we're both falling asleep; sitting in on history and econ classes at UW; walking unexpectantly into the most perfect cafe hidden away near Pike Place Market while on a search for a clean bathroom; having Haagen-Daz at midnight in an apartment two minutes from the Space Needle...

It's been a full-on week since I got back, straight back into school with assignments and exams... I'm thankful for the long weekend now. Last night mum and I were both home to have dinner together for the first time in a wee while and we ended up talking quite a lot... about guys, life, faith... I was surprised at how we were able to have such serious conversations for so long. Previous attempts have usually ended abruptly with either one of us getting frustrated. But that didn't happen last night...we must have talked for a couple hours. It was nice.

This whole trip has gotten me thinking a lot... about what has been... about my life right now... about where I see myself in another five years. And I'm excited. I feel like I'm getting some direction in my life - finally - and I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do.

I watched Lions for Lambs last night, which was an okay movie, but there was one thing that Robert Redford's character said which I very much appreciated and that was to the effect of, You often don't notice you've become an adult until you are already five or six immutable decisions into it... So very true.