Pick me! Pick me!

On my 27 minute drive home today I had a lot of time to do some thinking. Amidst the internal curses at the sunglasses clad man in the Mercedes who was driving, punching on his PDA, talking on his cell phone, and checking his watch while simultaneously merging into my lane (and basically into my car--thank goodness for trusty brakes!), and the formation of mental lists for the rest of the week, I ended up grumbling to myself about things that I still want out of my life. I want my Internet back (which, thank my lucky stars, after a month of no service my Internet provider is off my naughty list!), I want to go buy new clothes, I want to move back to London, I want to take a trip somewhere new at least 6 times a year--I want to travel--I'm gol-darn obsessed with traveling, I want to go out for dinner every night and see a movie afterwards. I want this, that and the other. And, if I think about it long enough, much of that seems ridiculous. (Work with me here, I'll get to the point where you all realize that I am not that petty and selfish...give it a couple paragraphs!)

I think sometimes I get too bogged down in thinking about the rest of the things I want to do in my life that I forget how great today really actually is for me, and if I think about it long enough, I realize how fortunate I am--I mean, really, I have a great job, lovely friends, and I laugh daily. As I was installing my new Internet (high five!), I grabbed my journal from my Thailand May Term trip off the shelf and decided to flip through it. That was my first trip out of the country without my family. As I read through the passages from before we left, I was surprised by how apprehensive and scared I was. And I was even more surprised at how much I seemed to have changed in those three weeks. And, if I think about it long enough, I realize that I am blessed--I am lucky, and often we (or maybe just I) get too caught up in the things that seem so silly that I forget to appreciate all the beauty and wonder that I already have--and I have it good! Among other things, traveling opened my eyes to that.

Now, after traveling in college, I think that "going" has become part of my very being (which is probably why this job, and the traveling therein is about perfect for me!). I itch to go, to leave, and to wander. Any random trip that comes up in life, I'm like a freakin' kindergartner who really really wants to be called on with my hand up in the air squirming in my chair: PICK ME, PICK ME! And every time the teacher is like, "Jamie, you answered the last question, give someone else a try, shh," it about kills me to put my hand down, but I do so, begrudgingly, knowing that I'll volunteer again for the next one...



***p.s. you can check out the experiences of some Simpsonites abroad in London for the semester on their blogs:
Dr. Palmieri's : http://simpsoninlondon.blogspot.com/
Drew's : http://sc-blogger3.blogspot.com/