(Photo credit: LeeAnn Stromyer with LeeAnn K Photography // @Leeann_K_Photography)
It’s been quite a month. There’s so much I’ve wanted to write about, and so little time in the day. I’ve been having some cool thoughts about blogs I want to write, and then I keep thinking that I’ve already written them. While this isn’t always the case, I did think it was worth looking back to a year ago on Born Geek. So much of what’s happening now is mirrored there.
Also, how are some of these posts a year old?! Some of them feel like just yesterday. Just so hard to believe how fast the time is going. I’m trying to enjoy every minute, live in the moment and all that. But then again, when bedtime takes hours, sometimes I totally fail to enjoy every moment and instead count down the seconds until I can breathe.
A Year Ago – I was loving Harley at 18 months old
Seriously, I think I love each age more than the next. I really enjoyed Harley at 18 months – she could walk and was starting to talk enough that I’d know what she wanted. She was easier than ever and was able to show off her hilarious personality. But now… now she is PURE personality. Telling me stories, talking to me for ages, playing all sorts of imaginary games with me. It’s adorable and hilarious to see how she’s grown up in the past year. It’s gone so fast, but I think this 2.5-year-old thing is even better.
A Year Ago – Dean got his approval from the consulate
This time last year was when our emigration journey really kicked into gear. I didn’t want to sell stuff or really organize that much until we KNEW that Dean was getting a green card. I just couldn’t get my hopes up until it was confirmed. And then in June, it was real. The man at the consulate said congratulations and I knew we were going to move to the States. It was an incredible day, and one that has forever changed our lives.
A Year Ago – I was part of #AcerForGaming
I will admit something. While our life since moving is great and filled with all kinds of wonderful experiences, I do miss being a local influencer the way I was in South Africa. I miss being a part of the gaming community. I miss being part of a circle of awesome geeky ladies who shared ideas. I miss getting invited to be a part of cool initiatives and events like these. It might come again here in Arizona, but at least I had the experience while in South Africa of being a role model for young girls who love gaming.
A Year Ago – I realized that social media made worldwide horrors hit closer to home
Recently, I wanted to write about some of the horrors and disasters in the world. There was a stabbing in Belgium, and the city where it happened was one we used to go to for parties while studying in Maastricht. Beyond that, the school where the attacker hid was the same school an old friend of mine went to for his entire schooling.
Before social media, before international study programs, we might have read about horrors in the newspaper and been sad for those impacted, but we wouldn’t have felt impacted ourselves. Now, whether an event happens in my own city or somewhere on the other side of the world, I feel it just as strongly because I have friends and family there.
A year ago, I was feeling this same thing. Different disasters, different traumas, but that same sense of feeling too exposed to the horrors of the world and powerless against stopping them. A year later, I still wonder if it’s a good or bad side effect of social media. Sure, it would be easier if I didn’t know that an old camp friend was steps away from a terrorist attack in Europe, or that friends in South Africa were struggling with power cuts and soaring food prices. But maybe this greater understanding of the world around us will hopefully make all of us work more towards finding solutions. Or at least fighting that feeling of being powerless.
DID YOU LIKE THIS POST?
If you like these words, please check out more of what I say on twitter and Facebook, and pics I take on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on Pinterest.
Also, please be sure to sign up to my carefully curated, crafted and infrequent newsletter.
