Happy Anniversary to ME

Saturday was my 1 year anniversary in PERU!

I should probably write something sappy and sentimental about my expectations 1 year ago, anecdotes about how it has been better than ever imagined and not at all what I expected, my self-effacing and humorous insights about my own misconceptions, how I have changed for the better, and how much I love small town life in Bajo Piura. I could write all of those stories as they would be absolutely true but, I haven't been feeling particularly sentimental lately. I'm borderline overwhelmed and generally bubbly. Life is good, as the T-shirt slogan goes.

I was at an Ecological Park over the weekend celebrating my anniversary on an overnight trip with 44 kids in the police youth program called Colibri or hummingbird. My kids were thrilled with the news that bunk beds exist in the world and not one kid would sleep in a top bunk alone for fear of falling out. I'm not exactly sure how having 2 people in the twin bed helped. I slept in the boys dorm (on a bottom bunk), theoretically to keep things under control. They climbed all over the beds until around midnight and then woke up at 5:30 to fold their sheets. I would have been annoyed at the negative impact on my beauty sleep except it was so damn cute. I mean they literally got out of bed at 5:30 AM and started to fold sheets in teams of two small boys with very large sheets without any adult yelling at them to do their chores.

So drink a toast to 1 year! I prefer cosmopolitans and I haven't had one in a while.