welcome memories

It's come to my attention that I might have a few new readers in my little corner of the cyber village. It's good to have you here, and I look forward to your comments! Today I spent the good part of the day sifting through the stacks of "stuff" that accumulated in my room over the years. It was kind of like an archeological dig - slowly picking through layers of old birthday cards, 11th grade history papers, programs from middle school band concerts, and all kinds of junk trying to use it to reconstruct who I was back then! Some comical moments included discovering my sisters gave me the same birthday card on my 11th and 13th birthday, and gathering all the postcards my parents have sent me in their travels into one four inch tall stack. It was impressive. I was also amazed at how many friendships I've been blessed with over the years. Many people have been influential in my life, and most of them are represented in the two boxes of keepsakes I'm saving (yes, I narrowed it down to just two!). I look forward to pulling those out in 15 years or so and reminding myself of all those great people. Maybe I'll have kids to tell all the great stories to...

As for the mundane details, I'm still at home with my parents where I'm getting to spend a lot of time catching up with them. It is most definitely not like the last time I lived here (summer before I started at Calvin - I was 18!), but I love the new "Matt-is-an-adult-now" dynamic. (That may be a future post.) I've been spending a lot of time trying to get things prepared for the move to Hungary, both organizing the loose ends of my life here and trying to prepare for life there. July 14 is the big day when I catch the train to LA for my training, so until then it will be more trips down memory lane while sorting through the accumulated junk of my life (so far the cutest find has been the two get well cards my sisters made for me when I was in the hospital for my heart surgery - their Crayola skills were substantial even back then!).