Wednesday, August 7 2019

Dear Journal,

Yesterday was a very productive day. After a busy work day, I took rod to the grocery store. We picked up a few supplied, along with the stuff to make saucijzenbroodjes and a salad on the side. I don't have a lot of experience making salads, so I went with some sliced cabbage & bell peppers tossed in apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, some apple juice, and pepper. I think it was a decent attempt, but the dressing was way too acidic. I have a lot to learn about salads. If only it were as simple as just tossing random vegetables in some kind of liquid.

After Rod went to bed, I finally caught up on emails. I'm finally starting to get the ball rolling with my high school reunion. We picked a day, reserved the school, and now we're starting to cobble together some ideas for what we should eat and do to commemorate ten years being out of high school. It's funny - ten years is both a long and short amount of time, and I've felt both sides of that. Ten years is an entire decade, but ten years ago was 2009, and that doesn't sound like it happened that long ago, does it? I've had ten years of life experience since leaving high school. Ten years ago I was only 19 years old. For each way you can frame the time that's passed, I feel a bit differently about it.

The other day, I started thinking about turning thirty - which is right around the corner. I'm not overcome with dread, or feeling crushed by my own mortality or anything like that. But I'm just a little disappointed that my life is somewhere between half over and a third over. It's like when you're watching a movie and you get swept up in all the action. The good guys are getting ready to fight the bad guys, and then just before the battle starts, you glance at the clock and realize that you're heading into the final movement. The major characters have already been introduced, and the writing shifts focus to carry the story forward. What I'm trying to say is that if my life were the Lord of the Rings, I feel like I'm starting to wind down the Fellowship of the Ring. If that's true, I still have two whole movies to go, I suppose.

What things around you make you feel old? What makes you feel young? I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday.