2009, you were good to me.

Can I just tell you how awesome it is to spend 4 months away from home, learning a new profession, a new culture, and a new dairy-free lifestyle, and then to return home to the waiting arms of my family and best friends?

On a similarly related note, can I start a blog post with a rhetorical question? I can? Oh, good.

It's 5 am and I've been awake since 3:30 because Jet Lag and I are good pals. But it's giving me some time to reflect on my Christmas "vacation" (in quotes because honestly, who vacations in the land of negative degrees Fahrenheit?) and I've decided that the past 3 weeks have been some of the best of 2009. Furthermore, I've decided that 2009 was the best year of my young life, despite the fact that it was also The Year of "Wow, My Life Is Different." (Can you say transition?)

Let's review, shall we?

~ I spent January 1st, 2009 at a bridal shower for my best friend.
~ I successfully trained and ran my 2nd triathlon (my first indoors)
~ I swam in the ocean for the first time on Spring Break in Clearwater, Fla.
~ I watched my roommate get engaged.
~ I graduated from Wheaton College.
~ I took a job as a live-in nanny for infant triplets.
~ I lost said nannying job and moved home.
~ I attended 4 weddings in 5 weeks.
~ I watched my best friend wed her best friend in Maine. Tears all around.
~ I took a job teaching Literature in Nigeria. (duh.)
~ I got wrapped around the little finger of my nephew J.
~ I moved to Africa and learned how to be a productive member of society.
~ I became Miss Maggie and fell in love with my 59 students.
~ I went home for Christmas, saw TONS of family, ate all my favorite foods from childhood, spent good bonding time with my brother, and picked up where I left off with my best friends.
~ I woke up January 1st 2010 and heard little man J say my name.

Wow, what a year.