| Girl completes 26th year, reflects on significanceA friend told me a few months ago that 26 was the best year in her life, and that I should cherish it while it lasts. A lot of great things happened for her then, and as I reflect on my own quarter-century... a lot had happened for me too.
For those who may have felt they "couldn't keep up" (e.g., my parents [sorry bout that folks]) with my version of life in the fast lane, here is my unofficial
2008 Year-in-Review:
Livin' It Up is Wearin' Me Out!
January began in tears as I feared for my Kenyan friends' lives during the post-election violence. I was home for New Years, but when I flew back to Seattle, I was told at work that the parents of a 14-year-old boy with severe autism, a student on my caseload, wanted to sue the school district for negligent services. My superiors, though, reassured me that since I was new to the school, I wouldn't be involved. I was the SLP for 45-60 high school students with mild to severe disorders aged 14-21. At the end of the month, I flew back to Arizona for a weekend visit with old friends, hiking, a rodeo, and driving a convertible for the first time.
   
February took me on a week's trip (during my school's "mid-winter break") to Japan (Ogaki, Gifu, Kyoto, Nagoya) visiting Patrick, a high school friend. The trip taught me a lot about self-reliance and using my communication skills to the max, since I did no prior research about Japan or Japanese. Japan hosts some of the nicest people on earth (just like Kenya!) and cleanest people on earth (just like Switzerland!), and the best food on earth (just like... nowhere else!). Two girls, Natsue and Yumie, introduced themselves to me at a quiet cafe in Gifu, excitedly practicing their English. They then offered to take me around the Japan's capitol, Kyoto, and ended the evening with a dessert treat and a song dedicated to me at their favorite coffee shop. Patrick's friends, Yumiko (& her hubby Keith, not pictured) and Matsubara, are also fantastic and fun people. One of my favorite trips of all time. In the meantime, at work they informed me the attorney wanted to depose me, so meetings upon meetings were generated in preparation.
      
March really brought me back to reality with the multi-million dollar lawsuit becoming hot and heavy. They somehow decided to skip the depositions and go straight to a hearing, so on went the high priority meetings in preparation. The stress of it all, on top of regular work stress, brought on a couple anxiety attacks and lost several hundred $$ in clinical tests and visits before it was figured out as stress-related. However, March also brought Yinan & Gaius, and later Ann visiting me in Seattle, and also a week's trip to China with family to meet long-lost relatives. It was only a week, but it was jam-packed as well with sightseeing the Great Wall (covered in snow!), Shaolin Temple, Forbidden City, Bird's Nest Stadium for the Beijing Olympics, and some other places with names I can't remember. The trip was a good reminder about the trilingualism in my family, and a good knock-in-the-face at the fruitlessness of my 3 years of Mandarin study back in college. Saw a good friend from college and connected with strange cousins twice my age. Very memorable trip indeed. 
    
April provided a simple trip back home during my school's spring break, which helped soothe the nerves and revitalize with family and friends, like a trip to the Chicago Botanical Gardens with Summer and a laid back party w/"the guys". Back at work, we received the best news ever (for me) -- during the break, the lawyers settled the case a mere week before the scheduled hearing! It will be reopened in a year or so, but of course I would be long gone by then.
 
May gave me some non-travel, non-lawsuit stress time in Seattle and hiked with some friends, with day's end hot tub talk (HTT). I also buckled down and worked to collect donations for the upcoming trip to Kenya.
  
June forced me to say goodbye to some great people, as it was the end of my job assignment and life in Seattle. It ended with a successful first annual Quest church retreat hosted by Life Together fellowship for post-college/ pre-children folks like myself.
June also sent me to my second Kenya visit, with a focus on people with disabilities, special education, and enhancing language and literacy in the schools.
Highlights: I was the lucky girl who: brought 140 pounds of donations to Dago dala Hera Orphanage and Sirua Aulo Academy... revealed to a sweet girl named Susan that she will be sponsored... trained teachers at a school that will change Transmara forever... introduced the first books to the most adorable children... was the first Village Volunteers volunteer returning to Kenya after the violence, which gave my Kenyan friends hope that the world is not scared of them anymore. As a gift to me, my host Emmanuel took me to Lake Nakuru National Park, known for its flocks of flamingos. However, it wasn't the season for it in June and instead it was covered in... storks.
   
Blessed more than I could imagine, I also received a message from someone who said: "Seriously, I'm so glad that you, of all people, are the first volunteer traveling to Kenya after the brief lapse. You have been my inspiration and mentor whether you realize it or not." She had since returned from her first Africa experience in Ghana and gone on to do great things for Village Volunteers and Ghanians!
July took me on a 2 day journey from Kenya to Seattle to a 3-day ferry up the Alaska Marine Highway to Haines, AK. From there, a road trip of 13 hours through the Canadian Yukon Territory to Fairbanks. That was one heck of a week-long odyssey literally around the world that I never want to do again, particularly because the moment I arrived in Fairbanks, I had to get oriented to the new job at the private pediatric outpatient clinic and start work... no matter how jet-lagged, seasick, carsick, and travel wearied. The same month, I saw the midnight sun (it's like taking a nap instead of going to bed b/c of the constant brightness), World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, Golden Days Parade celebrating Alaska's 49th year as the 49th state, soaked in Chena Hot Springs, and participated in the Rubber Duckies contest. So ended Summer in Fairbanks.
    
August kept me entertained by hiking Denali National park with a girl I met on the ferry; crossing the Arctic Circle and flying a bush plane (picture doesn't show it, but I did take over the controls for most of the flight!) with a girl from work; eating moose, caribou, and fresh salmon with great friends from Billie's Backpacker's Hostel; visiting Anchorage, Talkeetna, Alyeska; and catching my first northern lights with my now significant other, my biggest catch, my other half, my "Lov-ah" (hehe see: SNL)... my Michael! At the end of the month, I explored the Alaska State Fair and Alaska Native Heritage Museum and hiked in Anchorage and Whittier with Dee and Jeanie... So began Autumn in Fairbanks.
     
September started with camping near Mt Mckinley deep in Denali National Park with Jeanie, hiking around Fairbanks, exploring North Pole with Santa's house, and chillin at Manley Hot Springs. Spare time was spent playing scrabble with fellow hostellers and having big dinners and food parties. And catching some REAL northern lights action! So began Winter in Fairbanks (yep, I went thru 3 seasons in 3 months in Fairbanks!).
  
October ended my pediatric clinic job and took me to Kenya again, then Switzerland, then back to Alaska. October was mostly travel and again, the time of my life! Kenya focused on checking out the coastal circuit of our future Karma Kenya Travel & Tours company along Mombassa (watched baby crocs eat baby chicks, petted a 113y.o. turtle, among other things...), Malindi (had a witch doctor tell me I will have 3 kids), and Lamu (swam the Indian Ocean and lived like Gilligan's Island). Switzerland was fantastic! Michael is the best tour guide (probably because he's the best boyfriend!). We went all over the country: Bern, Pilatus, Sion, Crans-Montana, Geneva, Sachseln, Sarnen, Lucern... I met Michael's friends and family, who are super people just like him. We also met up with a Swiss couple we met back in Fairbanks! I had genuine Swiss fondue and a meal entirely of 10 different cheeses. True story. By the end of October, I flew halfway around the world again to Fairbanks (and landed in -2*F weather)... drove down to Anchorage to move into another hostel and start work the following day at Providence Medical.
     
    
November wore me out with 50 hr work weeks and a steep learning curve at the outpatient clinic and home health department. I had to turn my head from pediatrics to geriatrics and learn two completely different insurance paperwork systems between the two departments, as well as names, numbers, and locations of people and places. Highlights include going cross-country skiing and seeing "Nutcracker" both for the first time and both with the awesomeness that is Dee. I spent 1.5 weeks house- and cat-sat in a condo with a breathtaking view and 3 high-maintenance cats.
 
December kept up the work overload stress, but also brought a good friend Imme from Fairbanks to visit as I house- and cat-sat 2 low-maintenance (i.e., "normal") cats in a nice house with no microwave. Yes I was forced to cook almost every day of almost 3 weeks. Nordic skiing, Alaska Zoo, and movies highlight her visit. 3 nights in Arizona with family for Christmas and 8 nights back in Chicago with Michael rounded out my year. In that time, he saw Chicago from above, below, around and through, with New Year's eve at Navy Pier.
 
 
So there it is, my entire 2008 which began with bitter tears and ended with a sweet kiss. A year in the life of Little Linda.
"Footprints in the sands of time are not made by sitting down."
-North African proverb
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