HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Where have the years gone? And where have the last two months gone??? It has been a whirlwind since I left home in September. I toured through Israel and Egypt, volunteered and safari’d my way through Kenya and South Africa, and now I am (thankfully) unpacking in Australia, where I’ll be staying for a few months! Now that I am able to breathe a bit easier, you should be hearing from me more.

In fact, as a birthday present to myself, I am taking the day to update my personal journals and blog site. So here I am, officially old today (which was yesterday, in Australia)… the big 2-6. I have passed that great 1^st quarter century… and am now in the 25-50 quarter… Having a hard time with that one. Farewell youth! It’s been real. It’s been fun. And it’s been real fun.

At the same time, age is just a number, right? And getting older doesn’t mean that the adventure is over—On the contrary, it is just beginning! That’s what this year is about: clinging to the adventure of life! Instead of spending my time and money on simply improving my stuff, I’m exchanging it for real experiences… Ones that will leave me forever changed. Speaking of Forever Changed, if you want to hear the lyrics of my heart right now, go here (http://www.purevolume.com/foreverchanged), find the playlist at the top, scroll down to the song Knowledge, and listen. I pray that you are all reminded, as I am, that there is so much more to this life than the things that we so easily entangle ourselves with on a daily basis. Why were you put on this earth? That is one of the many questions I am asking people as I travel around the world this year… self, included.

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This phenomenal (haha) post is dedicated to the many wonderful people who have sent me birthday well-wishes… especially all the poor Facebook friends who are not able to post on my disabled wall and have to send me special messages!

I must also send HEAPS of thank-you’s to my dear Aussie friends who have given me an unbelievable birthday, complete with trips to the mountains, the rainforests, the ocean, the mall, the best chocolate shops in the world, and Chinatown (where I also celebrated my 21^st birthday, five years ago!) That doesn’t even include all the gifts I’ve been spoiled with… Including my theatre tickets to see Jersey Boys tonight! [Appropriately, in the words of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons (and my girl, Lauryn Hill), “You’re just too good to be true…”]

~Cheers, mateys!