One Year Post-Flag Day

One year ago, on a warm Friday afternoon, I was handed a Washington, D.C. flag and learned I'd be staying in Washington for my first assignment. It was not at all what I expected and I was sure it would be a tough year.

Today, on a warm Friday evening, I left my office after fond farewells with two bags full of stuff that I had to take home. I nearly cried because it has been such an incredible year with such incredible people and I was not ready to leave.

I am so thankful that this was my first assignment in the Foreign Service. I have learned so much, but my biggest takeaway is that sometimes the thing you think you don't want is going to be the best thing for you. I am looking forward to the next step (long-term language training!) and I hope my future tours are as awesome as this one. I have the distinct feeling they will be :)

the silly past

I've had a couple of other blogs in the past, but last week, to my surprise, I found one I had completely forgotten about. I started it in 2004 (nearly ten years already!) and I posted on it as recently as 2010 but for some reason I hadn't thought it about it years.

I can't believe some of the stuff I used to put on there and that I left all of it public. As I was going through changing the privacy settings I was rereading all of the things I used to write about. It was like reading a diary (something I've never bothered to keep in real life) and sometimes I was so vague even I didn't know what I was referring to.

If facebook had been as big back then as it is now I would have been one of those girls that posts angst-filled, vague statuses and then refuse to explain anything. Thank goodness I can hide all my past absurdity behind privacy settings. But maybe I'll read these posts again someday and think the same thing. Hopefully not...