2002

Alright, I'm writing a new post explicitly to get beauty and the geek off the top of my board. I mean, honestly, talk about embarrassing. Even if it is a great show.


Instead I would like to talk about the south american wombat.

Wait. No, that's no good either.

Ok. I would like to talk about pictures. I'm a little bit of a sentimentalist. I don't know if anyone knew that. I like to fish through old things and remember the many wonderful adventures I've had in my life. I like to see images of my time in germany. I like reading through my old yearbooks every once in a while and thinking about all the things I did and all the things I wish I'd done.

Most recently (re: tonight) I've gotten out old college pictures. I have a set of my pledge sons and I taking Grover the cooler around campus. I've got some graduation pictures. I've even got a really awesome picture of Rob, Kyle, and me dressed up as gangesters for halloween.

But the one I like the most was taken on Dec. 21, 2002, according to the bottom right corner of the picture. Joel had come to visit. That was when he first met my friend Vanja. It's a picture I like, not because it tells a story, but because it paints a feeling. It reminds me of the times when I feel safe and happy and absolutely surrounded by friends. Which is crazy, because besides me there is only one friend in the picture.

I think, save a few really dark times, the year 2002 may have been my favorite college year. Better than 2003, when I graduated and spent my first real time in a state that was not my own. Better than 2000, when I started to get my life together and had a girlfriend for the first time and road horses. Better, even, than 2004, when I got drunk for the first time and book-ended the year in New York at the beginning and Kansas City at the end.

2002 was my year. That was the year I went to germany. The year I first attempted alcohol.
The year I finally got all A's in a semester. The year I really started to give a crap. The year I settled on psychology. The year I took the GRE. The year I finally found a second best friend.

And, of course, that was the year I met the Bosnian Babe, the other person in my picture.

So I'm wondering. Do any of you folks have a year like that? A sort of turning year, when everything clarifies, and you realize who you are, what you might want to be, and that maybe there is a reason for all of this? I'm willing to accept school years, but I think, somehow, the summer is a surprisingly important piece to a true turning year.

Also, Audrie, Jenny sent me pics of your baby. VERY CUTE. You want I should post one or two, or are you going to be sending us all a link at some point?