It’s been a long time since I’ve written, and a lot of things have happened in the meantime. The rest of my time in Europe was WONDERFUL. It was so good to be with Carl, and the traveling was a lot of fun. I flew home (that was an ordeal) at the beginning of September and started my job a week later. I was excited about my job before I started, and it has turned out to be even better than I thought it would be. I work with great people who support and challenge me, the subject matter is surprisingly interesting, and I get to do things that big firm associates don’t see until their third year. Also, I went to Miami this last week for a conference on asbestos medicine. Six of us went from the office — I only went because one of the attorneys couldn’t at the last minute — and it was a nice combination of educational lectures (including a video of a extra-pleural pneumonectomy — yuck), networking, and relaxing (mostly on the day before the conference actually started). I had a great time, and I felt really lucky to go. Asbestos is a complicated area, and so getting the chance to learn more in a focused context was really good for me.
In other news, Carl moved home a few weeks ago. It’s so good to be back together. Wedding plans are gearing up, though there is still a lot to take care of. We’re also just trying to sort through the house. Between the two of us, who lived alone for three and four years, we’ve accumulated a lot of things, many of them duplicates. We have more tupperware (in a generic sense) than anyone should ever need. I also picked up the vestiges of my youth from my mom’s house about a month ago, meaning all of my childhood books, yearbooks, journals, stuffed animals, my baby blanket and baptismal blanket, and assorted items like a music box from my grandmother and a salt-covered rock from the Dead Sea. That is all now added to the pile of things to sort through. It is literally a pile, similar to a small hill, though much more fragile. I started to go through things today, but I didn’t get very far, because I started reading my journals from high school. Oh my goodness, those were drama-filled years. I’m very glad I’m past those years.
So in closing, life is good, and I’m enjoying this journey into real adulthood. Oh, and Carl and I got Motorola Droids a week and a half ago. Awesome. We love them.