New Beginnings

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The last three weeks have been filled with enough action to make it feel like it's been a full year. I arrived in Las Vegas two weeks before my sister's due date. Upon arrival, I was a little uncomfortable and disoriented as I often am when I arrive in a new place. I wondered what the hell I was going to do for two weeks before the baby came. Then, surprise, surpise, less than 48 hours after I arrived, Lindsey's water broke! We made our way to the hospital and about two hours later my nephew Owen was born. The next few days were filled with running around, learning how to drive again, doing endless amounts of laundry, and dog-sitting my two new best friends. Things didn't really calm down until after the brit milah the next week. Up until then, there was a seemingly endless list of things to prepare and line of people to greet the new arrival.

Now I'm not normally a fan of babies. I've been known to describe them as lumps of fat with hair and (eventually) teeth. But Owen is pretty damn adorable. Instead of a lump of fat, I would more aptly describe him as a squeaking turtle. If you heard the little yips he makes in his sleep and saw him trying to stretch out his neck, you'd understand.

Lindsey, Kyle, and Owen treated me for my stay in Vegas even though they were busy with things of their own (mainly making and changing dirty diapers). Over the past few weeks I've eaten all of the horrible and wonderful food that America has to offer and couldn't be happier about it. Although, I have to say that the best was the home cooked meal. I mean, with a professional chef in the house, you really can't go wrong. Grilled onions and asparagus, Kobe steak, and some sort of corn salad? Sold.

Right before ending this journey, I was able to make a quick stop over in San Jose, California and attend the wedding of two friends, one from high school, the other from college. It was an incredible experience to be able to be apart of their big event, even if I was only a minor contribution. Seeing my group of friends from college one last time was priceless and made me feel warm and whole inside (even though they were drunk most of the weekend). I think it made us all a little scared to realize that we're not as young as we think we are, but at least we know that we're all taking the slow path in life together. There was drama, which made me hold my breathe a little bit, but at the same time sort of made everyone seem like one big family. After all, what is a family without some arguments every once in awhile? At the end of the weekend, everyone was in a good place and it was very difficult for me to leave. While saying goodbye I tried not to think that this might be the last time I see some of these people, but didn't fully succeed. I feel like I'm in a constant cycle of building new relationships and burning bridges ... and I don't like it. But if my life is me moving to a new country of year, then I'm going to have to get use to it.

New baby, new marriage, new start! American has treated me very kindly these last five weeks and I'm not going to be able to forget it for a long while.

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