etc.: An Ode.

(Ethan, Daniel, and Kristian - Summer 2008)

In just a few short weeks, I will see my ~~baby~~ big brothers again. In case you didn't know, they live in Slovakia and I don't see them very often. They've changed a lot since 2008 (although I've seen them since then).

They are kind of starting to look like men.

Weird.

(Christmas 2009)

I'm kind of super excited to see them.

And I'm also kind of super excited to see my mom and dad (also living in Slovakia as missionaries).

Good times.

In other news.

Dear New Mexico,

I love you. And I can't wait to feel your dry air and cool desert nights.

You are quite the secret-keeper. I discovered just yesterday that I will see a dear childhood friend this weekend, with whom I share some of my greatest New Mexico memories. The last time we were together was at her wedding in 2008. It's been a while. Now we are both old, married women.

I'm ecstatic.

(myself and Amy at her rehearsal dinner, 2008)

New Mexico, we will always have a special connection. You with your purple mountains and piercing blue skies, you represent something so dear to my heart. With you I spent my happy childhood years, building forts in the desert and pretending I was married to a Disney prince (I never could have guessed I would actually marry a Disney prince!). I will never forget driving down dirt roads in the old Toyota Land Cruiser at night, thinking that the coyotes I heard howling were going to come and snatch me right out of the back seat. I will always remember peering into a pillowcase, wondering what creature Dad brought home from the desert. I often think back fondly on camping in Aguirre Springs and catching lizards with fishing poles. I can picture in my mind, running through desert arroyos in the summer outside my grandparents' house with my older brother Nicholas. I remember quail, whiptails, road runners, kangaroo rats, jackrabbits, and skinks.

I love you despite all the slow drivers. I don't care what anyone says, I think you are grand.

Grande, in fact.

I'll see you in the morning.