Hello, my name is...

At church every Sunday we have the dreaded Meet-and-Greet where everyone is asked to stand up for a few (long) minutes and introduce ourselves to others sitting around us. I find it pointless really.

The other Sunday, I was sitting next to an older gentleman who was wearing a nametag that said "Chuck."

I don't wear a nametag. Neither does Clement.

During the Meet-and-Greet, I introduced myself to Chuck.

Then, Clement reached over to shake Chuck's hand.

Chuck said, "Hi, I'm Chuck."

Then, Clement, instead of saying, "Hi, I'm Clem, " and having just met Chuck, said "Hi, I'm Cluck."

Hehehehe.

Three Letters for Three Decades (Part III in the Thoughts on Turning 30 series)

30 is a big birthday. I'm saying Goodbye to my 20s and Hello to this new decade. Back in college, I never thought I'd be 30. Doesn't 30 just sound so firmly planted in adulthood?

For my 25th birthday, I wrote a Manifesto for my life. And then I read it out loud at my birthday party. I wonder what my friends thought when I said, "Okay, now I'm going to read my Manifesto." Hum.

For my 30th, of course I'm writing my Year-in-Review, but I am also writing three letters. Each letter will go to someone significant in each decade of my life - from 0-1o years old, my teen years, and my 20s.

Who will receive these letters? The specifics, dear reader, are a secret. I can tell you a couple of things though: one letter will be sent through LinkedIn, one letter will not be sent, and the last letter is going to the Executive Director of a non-profit organization. My intent in writing these letters is to let these people know how much they impacted me. The letter that is not being sent will hopefully provide some closure for myself.

2005: The Most Boring Year of My Life (Part II in the Thoughts on Turning Thirty series)

2005 followed closely on the heels of 2004. And I was grateful for a clean, brand-new year.

2004 was a year characterized by many losses for me in all shapes and forms. I cried a lot in 2004.

At the beginning of 2005, I prayed that the year would be boring.

And it was!

Maybe "boring" isn't the right word because it suggests that the year was uninteresting, and that was definitely NOT the case. 2005 was actually quite eventful- I spent a month in Thailand, I went to Hong Kong for the first time, I moved back home to the US, my sister got married, and I met my future fiance (although I didn't know it at the time).

Maybe a better way to describe 2005 was that I was on an even keel emotionally. Lots of things happened externally, but internally, I was quite level. Sure, there were highs and lows, but they were not as high or as low as what I experienced in 2004.

There were losses in 2005 as well, but the difference was that they were losses I anticipated as opposed to the sudden and unexpected losses of 2004 (for example, I knew that I was going to move back to the US, so I knew that I would eventually need to say goodbye to all of my friends in China...which, I must add, didn't make it any less sad, but I knew it was gonna happen).

2005 was still a significant year in my life that brought a lot of change. However, the lack of wrenching events gave me time and space to heal from 2004. For this, I was thankful. So maybe instead of labeling 2005 as The Most Boring Year, I should think of it more as A Year that Brought Much-needed Rest and Healing to my Heart.

A New Desk

My friend was giving this desk away, so I brought it home.

I refinished it by sanding and staining it.

Here's my new desk!

This is my second refinishing project. I find it satsifying to take a piece of furniture that others no longer want, and give it a new life and home. I think that's why I like adopting rescue cats too. =D

Gracie Anastasia

This is Gracie Anastasia, the newest feline addition to my family. She's two years old and a sweetie. She loves to chase balls and stuffed mice. Gracie is a rescue cat, adopted from the shelter by the same foster mom who rescued my other cat, Roger.

This is Roger Oreo. =D He's a big, happy cat who acts like a dog. He moved in about six months ago.

When I first attended the cat adoption fair, Roger and Gracie were sharing the same cage. I decided to have Gracie move in with me to see if Roger might like having a friend since he is a very social guy. Gracie moved in on a foster-to-adopt agreement for two months, and a couple of days ago, I gave her foster mom the official decision that Clement and I would adopt her.

I don't think Gracie and Roger remember each other from their foster home. They are still working out some things between themselves, but I think they like each other enough since they travel around the house together.

So, these are my cats! They are quite different - Roger is a big, goofy guy and Gracie is petite and proper. But I think they're both happy to have a home with lots of windows and toys and cat treats. =D

Thoughts on Turning Thirty: An Introduction to a Series

My 30th birthday is approaching and this is the first in a series of posts that I will write with my thoughts about what it means to me.

Post #1: What I Think (and Not Think) about Turning 30

There are a couple of things that I don't feel when I think about turning thirty:

1- I don't dread it. I don't wish that I was younger. I have no desire to be thirteen again, or twenty, or twenty-two. I am way more cool (if I do say so myself) now than I ever was at those ages. Maybe "cool" isn't the word. What I want to say is that I am way more myself and comfortable with who I am. Sure, I still have my insecurities and doubts about myself, but I'd rather be dealing with the insecurities I have now than the insecurities I had back then. I think it's because I have more tools and skills and truth to manage those insecurities.

2- I don't feel like I have to prove that I'm still young or to do anything super-crazy to make myself feel alive. This means that I feel no need to go sky-diving or get a piercing. I feel quite alive when I wake up from a nap because my cat is licking my face.

The things I do feel when I think about turning thirty:

1 - I look forward to the 30s. I'm starting out in a new career, I'm getting married. These are big things.

2 - I'm glad to leave the 20s behind. The 20s weren't bad, a lot of stuff happened - I graduated from undergrad, moved to China for awhile, had the most boring year ever (which will be described in another post in this series), travelled around China, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Israel, started grad school, met my fiance. But along with all of those good things, there was angst involved about all sorts of areas of my life. So maybe the 30s will bring angst of its own, but I'm ready to leave the 20s angst behind me.

To follow in this series:
2005: The Most Boring Year of My Life
How I Will Celebrate: Three Letters for Three Decades

Camping

Back in another life, I lived in Sichuan, China for a couple of years. At orientation, the director of the program I was in (who was an American lady) said, "If you like camping, you'll like China." And indeed, living in China was sometimes a lot like camping - sometimes there was no electricity or water, my bed was super-hard, and it was really cold in the winter.

All of that to say that now, I actually enjoy camping. Especially when it's with the fine folks pictured above. I go camping with this group of friends every year. They're friends from my old church small group. Although the small group has since disbanded, we still hang out several times a year. Last weekend, we went up to Yosemite for our annual camping trip - a weekend full of s'mores, a little hiking, lots of laughing, and re-connection. It was good for my heart.