Today my youngest sister will embark on the concluding chapter of her FOUR-CONTINENTS-IN-ONE-YEAR-SUCKAS! world tour, and land tomorrow morning in Frankfurt, Germany. It all started with a big dream to have an internship abroad, and nearly ended with an FBI interview in my mother’s sketchy living room (haha!), but she’s finally on her way. PLUS - she has finally been granted governmental security clearance for this risky work… how cool is that?! What were they thinking? Just kidding. :)
At this point, there are two separate men in charge of 1) picking her up from the airport with one of those fancy name signs, 2) helping her stock her new fridge, and then 3) socially introducing her to the wonders of German-style weekends. How will I spend MY weekend? Hmmm… probably greasing the joints of my rocking chair and alphabetizing my binders. O TO BE YOUNG AGAIN!
To add insult to injury, my other little sister and her husband just confirmed tickets to go visit her there for THANKSGIVING! @#(*$&@#($*& Did I really use up all of my exciting life milestones from 2003 to 2008? I WANT TO GO TOO - but alas, school disallows this. BAH! At least I can look forward to December cruising with this same globe-trotting couple… hopefully they won’t rub it in too much…. “Oh, when we were in GERMANY, the unlimited buffets and 24-hour-room-service and adult-only-swimming-areas and Vegas-revue-style-entertainment were MUCH nicer!”…. I wouldn’t be able to take it.
It would be rude to launch into my own nostalgia for international-travels-gone-by, since I certainly got my fill and this post is strictly to celebrate Katie’s achievement. HOWEVER, no one spends 10 weeks abroad without some type of life-changing paradigm-shift and I am really excited to see how Katie’s emerges and what it will mean for her future career-decision-making. I definitely decided to apply to TFA while sipping tea in the salon of my snazzy French apt. during study abroad, thinking “How the HELL did I get here? Oh, wait - great public schools!”. She will undoubtedly face some new ideas that just might make a huge difference in her future… O TO BE YOUNG AGAIN!
I must not let my sinful sense of both pride and envy get the best of me, though, when thinking about the exciting European odyssey ahead for Katie. And Kristen. And Patrick. And probably someone else who’s not me. Instead, I will try and muster a pseudo-maternal inspiration from the whole thing and just be grateful that we are all physically-well enough, financially-stable enough, and adventure-ready enough to have these choices before us at all. Back to the rocking chair…
