The Northwoods

Home again, and so happy. It's been a bit of a whirlwind, going over the same stories, sorting out the same emotions, walking through the same memories with several different people. I've spent time with a lot of the most important people in my life since arriving in Minneapolis (after getting up at 2:30AM to ride a bus to El Vigia for an hour, then waiting there for 3 hours, then an hour plane ride to Caracas, then six hours in Caracas, then three hours on the plane to Miami, then a night in the hotel, then three hours from Miami to Chicago, then an hour in Chicago, THEN an hour to Minneapolis).

I was picked up by my dear friend Kristen and taken out for walks and drinks in Uptown on Wednesday night. She made me spaghetti, which was what I have been craving for several weeks (big surprise), and we drank wine and talked all evening. It was exactly what I needed.

I realized the next morning while I sat in a Dunn Bros coffee shop on Hennepin Ave in Uptown waiting for my friend Cassie to pick me up to go back to Duluth, how much I love Minneapolis. This is a realization I have had several times in my life, usually around this time of the year when summer has fully sunk in, people are out and about, walking, running, biking... I really really love these cities. One day, I am nearly positive this is where I will happily live my life. For now I'm so grateful to have another summer in this great city.

I have been in the country between Duluth and Two Harbors at my parents house since Wednesday afternoon, and I've spend a lot of time with old friends, catching up on the things that have happened during the last year when I've been too busy to spend significant amounts of time with anyone. It's been really fantastic and has helped me center back in on myself and who I am by telling my story up until now and where I hope I'm going to the people I love and have known my whole life.

It appears to be a summer of swimming and weddings... Two of my old childhood friends are getting married within two weeks of each other this summer, and I'll be in Duluth for both weddings. I'm very very excited about this! I've also swam within the largest lake in South America, the largest lake in the world and some other smaller Minnesota lakes within the last week.

This is how I love to live my life: with friends, family, memories all around me, hope and future plans spread before me and going through the waves of emotions I need to process as they arrive. I am happy.