One year ago today

On April 27, 2012 I woke up in my parent's basement in a room without windows (I called it the "dungeon;" truth is, I prefer it over the adjoining room because I like to sleep in total darkness). I was in Colorado because I was finishing my last class for my master's degree; Scott was still in Ohio because we'd moved there in January. It was a Friday morning and the next day was my very last classroom session for my degree. I was headed back to Ohio on Sunday afternoon.

I grabbed my phone, as I do most mornings, and checked my email. And there was an email from the Department of State. I was invited to be in the July A-100 class for the Foreign Service. I was in shock. I had stopped paying attention to the Foreign Service message boards months ago and I knew I was going to expire off the register in July. In the back of my mind, I always thought it would be nice to hear from them, but I had honestly given up hope.

Here I am a year later. I live in Washington, D.C. and I am a few months away from finishing my first assignment (first tour DC positions are only one year tours). I've met former Secretary Clinton (on more than one occasion) and now Secretary Kerry. I've visited Timor-Leste and Indonesia as a representative of the United States, places I never thought I would see. I got to bid farewell the Ambassador from Timor-Leste at a reception at Blair House (its an awesome place - http://blairhouse.org). Soon I may be working on the credentials for a new Ambassador from Timor-Leste as well as preparing our Ambassador to Timor.

If you had asked me on April 26th how the next year was going to look, it would have included a lot of discussion about rural Ohio and looking into how to get a teaching job out there. Now, my coming year includes learning a language I know little about (Cantonese) and preparing to move to Asia.

It all just keeps getting better and better. I can't imagine what two years from now will look like.

History Moment

Today has been a good day. In the past couple days the stress has started to get to me. There is still do much for me to do and I was also trying to get things with my current job figured out. I was getting overwhelmed. I was glad for today, a break from work and time for me to get things figured out.

After getting some calls and emails out in the morning I drove to the neighboring city of Wooster to visit a little store called Friendtique. It was a cute little place that probably sells one of everything. And in the basement I found great clothes for my new job. Instead of two suit jackets I now have four. At least I feel a little more prepared!

The last week it was pretty warm here. Actually, that's an understatement. It was sweltering here. A house with no AC makes it seem even hotter. Thankfully today is beautiful. The sun is out but a nice breeze chills the air; it feels like fall. I decided to take advantage of the weather and take a walk...to the cemetery.

My interest in cemeteries has led some people to believe I'm odd. I think I really upset a poor girl in Scotland when I insisted on taking a walk through the cemetery next to Stirling Castle. She wouldn't even come inside the gate. Lucky for me, my husband totally gets this crazy hobby of mine. He points out cemeteries when we are on drives and says things like, "ooo, look at that one. You'd love to go there."

I spent this afternoon in Ashland's cemetery. It's a very hilly cemetery, which is unusual for me since most of the cemeteries in Colorado are pretty flat. Even the ones in the mountains. One of my favorite cemeteries is the one in Como, Colorado. Why? Because its full of history. Really, all cemeteries are full of history but I just happen to know a lot about Como's. I'll have to write about that sometime. It's fascinating stuff.

The Ashland cemetery was really lovely and very peaceful. I think that might be another reason why I like them. It's always so peaceful to walk through a cemetery.

I look forward to walking through cemeteries in other countries. Seeing how different cultures remember their dead says a lot about their history and their society. China was interesting because their culture is steeped in ancestor worship. There were some of our neighbors who remembered their ancestors in their own homes and celebrated their memory in the street. I look forward to learning the practices of all different cultures.

Beautiful View of the Ashland Cemetery. 

This tombstone is partially obscured by this tree. I couldn't read it to guess how long it had been there before it had been overtaken. The tree itself was a little unusual. It creaked the entire time I stood there, as if it might split into two at any moment. Maybe it will someday.

As I was walking as I saw many tombstones with the names of a husband and wife with the date of death for only one member of the couple. This is not unusual I know. My grandparents have exactly this. But I wondered, is there one where the person clearly cannot still be alive but they have no date of death listed? And lo and behold in one of the oldest parts of the cemetery I found one. Elizabeth, born in 1818, is surely not still living. What became of her? Where did she go that she did not join her husband here? What kind of life did she have? If I thought I could find her in the public records I would. If I was going to be living in this city longer that is exactly what I would be doing. But since I am leaving soon her life will remain a mystery to us all. This is why I love cemeteries.

Back Home Again...in Ohio...

Back from Canada! It was a good trip, but I was ready to return. Not necessarily to Ohio but I was ready to move on to the next phase in the my life and I knew it wasn't going to happen while I was in Canada.

First, the conference. It was really nice. I was finally speaking on a topic I was passionate about (and therefore I know the most about - literally. There is not a person living who knows more on the subject of the history of the Chinese in Colorado than me. Sounds cool, but really, its a niche. Like most history. Anyway...) and I loved it. I probably obsessed over my presentation a little more than was necessary because it went really well. The rest of my panel were all professors of Asian History (who were also Chinese) but my presentation did not stand out as amateur among theirs. It was awesome.

This actually felt like a nice goodbye to my time in academia. I will never stop loving history, the study or the research of it, but I won't be writing it again for some time. I think graduation would have been a nice ceremony to go to, but it would have been short with my name being called, a little walk, and thats it. I am glad I chose this experience over graduation. I look forward to when I might attend conferences in the future - and maybe I will even catch one while I am overseas. Who knows what might happen.

<Once I figure out how to upload pictures I will post some of the conference, Seattle, and Vancouver - they were all awesome>

Now that I am home I feel a little odd. It reminds me of when we were waiting to hear about the FAA position for Scott. We knew a big change was coming, but out lives were kind of suspended as we waited for it. In that case, we didn't even know the date until about a month before. At least I had two and half months to prepare for this. But now that its only two months left I still feel like I have so much to do and yet nothing I can do until I get more information.

I am currently waiting on a packet that will contain my salary offer as well as other important paperwork about moving and so on. I was hoping the packet would come last week and now I am hoping it will come this week. Something tells me I may be hoping the same thing next week. Once this packet with the salary offer comes I feel like this will finally all be real. But perhaps not. Maybe it won't be real until I am sitting in a room, dressed in a suit I just bought with heels that hurt my feet, being welcomed into a new job and lifestyle with an overwhelming about of information thrown at me. Yes, that seems most likely.

And now, I must get to the Cheesebarn. The cheese is not going to slice itself.