End of an Era

Today marks my re-entry to the adult-ish world. School started today, so now my life is filled with deadlines that frankly freak me out. Why did I decide to be a teacher? I'm excited for the classes though. Even though I don't have any of the books yet, I can fudge things for a while, right? Such a good attitude.

So with the end of my retirement here, I thought I'd just think about what a fantastic summer it's been.

And I was dorky, and figured out all the miles traveled in the last 5 months (I had to include my trip to Switzerland). According to "geobytes" and "as the crow flies", I have travelled roughly 27,550 miles. I think that's a little scrimpy on the actual number, but I'm grateful for that bird who helped me figure it out. I've never calculated something like this, and it was kind of fun. But goodness, that's a lot of miles!

I have seen a lot of amazing things, read a lot of books, visited with my stellar friends, made new friends, eaten a lot of food, consumed a lot of diet coke, took some great naps, increased my chances of skin cancer exponentially, made a book worth of memories, and loved every minute, except for maybe 15.

I am glad I got this retirement business out of my system. I am excited to have more of a schedule. Travelling was fun, but when I counted the nights I've spent in my residence of 2 months, and I only slept here 25 of those nights, that's a bit excessive. I don't feel like I have any roots right now, so now I get to! I'm excited to feel like I belong at church because I know people and they know me. And I haven't had a calling in 5 months. That makes a huge difference. I will miss the flexibility to do whatever I want, whenever I want...but that usually includes doing stuff with people, and everyone is busy all the time. Maybe I'll find some old people in Arizona that will fill that need in me :0)

And I want to give a shout out to my family. Almost every trip was based around them. Thanks for making my life fabulous! Thanks for always living cool places and letting me come and visit. There is nothing better than the reaction I get from those nieces and nephews when they see me. Very good for the soul.