double sided

yesterday i turned 24.

sink in....sink in...

i first came here to israel when i was just 22. i've gone through 2 whole years of my life here. it sort of all comes full circle though. three years ago, on my 21st birthday lucia first left home to come here to serve. and now on my 24th birthday she's left me once again to some new exciting stage of life. in one sense, i'm sort of glad that happened...it took the focus off of me and we were able to concentrate on making sure she was good to go.

lucia was very strong. she'd spent three years of her life here in Haifa. and the only time she cried, at least that i saw, over the past couple of months was when we went to Bahji yesterday and then when we were saying goodbye.

but my birthday was wonderful all the same. i was sick, but i tried to make the most of the day. though when we went to Bahji, i was coughing and sneezing too frequently to attempt to go into the Shrine with any sense of reverence. afterwards, dinner on ben gurion, a birthday ice cream from mcdonalds and then a quick shop through a the mall where i treated myself to a couple new items and then home to do the final bit of packing with lucia and just wait until midnight before we had to head to the train station.

i'm glad i'm 24. it's going to be such a good year. though it's starting out with me still quite ill and tired from the night's travels. it's going to be a strong year, a hopeful one, a positive one.

so! thanks, 23, for yet another foundational year...and 24...you know what to do.