The Best Time - Or Not?

As I sat on my fourth flight of the year, feeling a bit tired from my hectic work life and travel schedule, I skimmed an article on happiness. A blurb on the side caught my eye. It said people's happiness decreases throughout their twenties, thirties, and forties until in their mid-fifties it generally improves. In fact retirees were reported to be the happiest. It makes sense; I suppose - freed from the burdens and responsibilities of work, family, and too often balancing family with work, I can see how life would become less stressful.

But man - that made me depressed to think I am only at the beginning of what is going to become more and more stressful years ahead. Then again, life is often what you make of it and how you perceive things as much as it is reality.

On the one hand, right now I am enjoying investing in my own professional growth with really no constraints. The downside is I work lots. Then again I am able to spend fun time with family and friends in DC, around the country, and the world. The downside is I am not really grounded in one community. Since my work is on a national level, but I am beginning to think I would like to focus on one community, that has been sort of nagging at me lately. But then there are so many opportunities when you work in so many communities and with so many cool people... and again the downside - but also the upside - is the frequent travel to these places to meet people and learn.

So as I sit in another hotel I can't decide if this is the best time of my life - traveling, learning, growing, and pretty much just being responsible for myself - or not. Would I rather be grounded in one community, with a less intense job, and more time with family & friends? Maybe I could have a dog, a predictable schedule, and a regular yoga class if that was the case. Would I be content with that? Then again I love exploring new cities, curling up alone in these hotel rooms, rushing to catch a flight, managing my work and life on my tiny laptop, and meeting new people.

I don't know; none of these trade offs has simple answers. I am reminded of something my aunt said once, that the best parts of life are not certain years or months but rather different moments all along the continuum of life. I guess that's where I will wrap up tonight, on a thoughtful moment along its continuum.

Chicago Style Roast Beef

A couple weeks back I had a layover at O'Hare Airport. Guess where I went? None other than the airport location of the Berghoff Cafe, where I walked up to the sandwich maker and he said "You want a good sandwich, I make you a good sandwich," in that Chicago tone of voice.

I ordered me-self a roast beef sandwich toasted with cheese. He cut the hunks of roast beef off right in front of me and I downed the whole thing quickly, along with the Berghoff's homemade root beer.

When I got back to town I told none other than my friend Ricky, who being from Chicago understands what I mean when I say Chicago style roast beef. Then I found out the best. news. ever. When Ricky's parents came to visit a couple weeks back from Chicago, they brought him a hunk of roast beef. Being a good Chicagoan he turned the roast beef into Italian beef for sandwiches. Then he saved the dripping to turn into gravy for our Turducken this holiday!

Yum. Delicious. I tasted it this morning and it's GREAT.

Ready to Rumble!!!

My friend has written the following about the beloved turducken basting in our oven this festive holiday:

In this corner, in the black suit, weighing in at 172 pounds…
The Chow Hound from Chitown,
The Culinary Connoisseur
The Goofy Gourmet…
RICKY!

And in this corner, in the birthday suit, weighing in at 16.14 pounds…
The Fowl Triumvirate,
The Nesting Doll from the City of Dis,
The Savory Cerberus…
The Turduckn!

LET’S GET READY TO RUUUUUUMBLE!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's time to cook our turducken! We are hosting Thanksgiving today in our beautiful old brownstone in Washington. I am enjoying the day with friends. Part of me is a Monica type from Friends in that I really enjoy hosting gatherings of friends. Today is hosting central for me and I love it.

Yesterday, after I stocked up on wine I was walking back up the street when - lo and behold - Mr. Prez, his girls, and his mother-in-law walked out of Martha's Table, a nonprofit near my 'hood! How funny that I ran into them while I was doing my T-Day errands.

So anyway back to Thanksgiving. I cooked cranberry sauce and pie; now we're roasting our turducken - a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey. Yum. Nothing says Thansgiving like a bunch of poultry.

Twenty Something Kid

I emerged from the farmer's market, grinning like a 5 year old kid, with the remains of my morning chocolate gelato smeared all over my face. More evidence of my morning reward was dribbled down the front of my sweater. And I thought to myself, this is the best phase of my life. I have minimal responsibility, a great job that I like, and because of aforementioned minimal responsibility I can do what I want when I want to do it.

This week was filled with my extracurricular activities: volleyball, tennis, dance class. Its like I am indulging in every afterschool past time my parents may have deprived me of. I love it! I am a twenty something kid with a checking account.

Meditation

I went to my first meditation class on Thursday and it was fabulous, like cleaning out the attic except I was cleaning out my brain.

Peace Corps Update

In my effort to join the Peace Corps while still leading a busy life (causing me to procrastinate incredibly on the paperwork), I am still in the midst of the nomination process. A few things have slowed me down, namely the fact that I'm treasuring the moments I am having with friends in DC right now, life is hectic, and work has been busy. But I got what *should* be the last of my medical info over to them last week.

After yoga on Sunday, I went to coffee with a girlfriend who had volunteered to answer any questions I had about Peace Corps as she served in China. My one question for her was: "How do you deconstruct your life here and go somewhere else?" Tonight as I am looking at the application toolkit there are all sorts of checklists. Checklists for making sure you get your medical forms in, your legal stuff taken care, and so on. Where's the checklist for "How do you transplant your life to another continent?" It seems the harder things in life do not come with checklists.

My friend's simple answer was: "You just do."