Free Bird.

I am currently sitting in a little cafe' near us called "Little t." You've probably heard us mention it from time to time. It's a shorter walk than Palio's and something about it feels so European (or at least, its what I imagine a cafe' in Europe to be like.) Its like sitting in a land of baguettes, croissants, pastries, black coffee in "for here" cups, and PS: my lap top is the only one in the place. Two people have arrived to pick up large orders of baguettes (which they take away in bread baskets mind you!) to their restaurants nearby.  The person next to me is reading the paper and eating a pastry and the family behind me is asking their kids what they think of the painting hanging on the wall. Beautiful. What a pleasant space to be on this fine Saturday morning.

The term "free bird" has been resurfacing in my mind a lot over the past week or so. It seems that now that Christmas has passed we are full steam ahead with plans for moving. In fact, the day after Christmas on our drive back to Portland our conversations were already jam packed full of Europe and what needs to get done. Now that we have been able to put more attention towards our trip I am beginning to realize how necessary this trip really is for me. Their have been several cases of supreme stress through out my college education, and now that I am nearing the end (5 classes left!) these instances have actually been occurring more often due to computer errors, inconsistent advising, and just the general hubbub that has to take place in order to graduate. There is an anxiety that sits within me, that I've become so used to, I don't realize it is there until another annoying mishap happens which sends me to five different advisers just to get one signature and the stress reveals itself. The anxiety comes from a fear of losing things I've worked so hard for, for example: having a class no longer count, or my whole education being erased... I know this fear is irrational but the school system can make you feel so powerless that at times, it does feel possible. All I can say is, it will be the biggest relief I have ever felt in my life to finally have a diploma in hand. So, this Europe trip is necessary for my soul, and my general well-being. I am very thankful that we are essentially giving ourselves a three month vacation, and while it probably sounds indulgent to some, it is essential that I feel what it is like to be a free bird. I haven't known life with out school deadlines. It has taken me so long to graduate not because I took a couple of years off, rather its because of taking bunches of the "wrong" classes (meaning that they didn't fulfill requirements-- my mistake) oh and the transfer to Portland set me back quite a bit too. I have begin to picture myself sitting in a cafe in Paris reading a book and not having a care in the world. It will be bliss.

On another note, I will simply say that Christmas was wonderful. Since most of you have already seen our pictures posted on facebook I feel that it would be (and has been previously) a smidge-bit redundant to devote whole blog posts to the same images. I will however, post a blog in the near future of all the "behind-the-scenes" crafting that went on to put together our homemade-gifts this year, because we had a lot of fun with that.

A HUGE (HUMONGOUS! GINORMOUS!) "Thank You" to our families for all the gifts and love and time put towards us when we were home. We really really enjoyed ourselves. It is surreal to think that next Christmas we will be living in Sacramento. We are so excited for this! We've already talked about how wonderful it will be to get a tree from apple hill and perhaps host a Christmas Party. It will be a dream fulfilled. Anyway- it's a little scary to talk about such things a year in advance, if anything take this as an example of just how excited we are!

Happy New Year to you all!