Overdue Thanks

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated this blog, but there are good reasons for that. First, July was a very busy month, and I simply didn’t have time to either sift through photos or write. Second, I was in the USA essentially the entire month of August and felt my time was better spent with my family than on the internet. And third, I needed a break from blogging.

When I started this blog, I wrote this. While that all still holds true, it’s not the complete truth. More than anything, I started this blog for my parents, and I’m fairly certain that they are the only people who actually care if I keep the blog going (but I’m grateful and happy it’s drawn at least passing interest from others).

When I was nineteen, my parents drove me more than 2,000 miles from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin to Los Angeles, California so I could chase a dream. I’m not sure whose dream I was chasing but at some point it became mine, and my parents supported me unconditionally. I’ve been chasing dreams ever since, sometimes bringing me closer to my parents but more often pulling me away from them. Being apart hasn’t always been easy, and I know I’ve caused them much pain by living so far away for so long. But through it all, their love and support has never wavered, and in some ways the time and distance between us has brought us closer together.

As an example, my mom is a pastel artist. When I started this blog, she started painting some of the photos from my blog – both as a way of maintaining an emotional connection with me and as a way of helping me share my Peace Corps experience with others. In doing so, she has helped strengthen the bonds that I have with people in Bulgaria and has made Bulgaria something special for friends and family in America.

Here are some of her paintings from last year, which my dad took and made into a calendar. Having seen the paintings she’s done this year, the 2012 calendar promises to be even better.