Onwards and Upwards

Location: Budapest
Date: April 17, 2011
Adventure #50

This has been a long time coming, but I've been waiting to save post no. 50 to make this very special announcement. This August, I am moving to Washington, D.C. to attend graduate school at American University. I'll be getting my masters in Arts Management, and I want to focus on marketing and public relations for large cultural institutions. Since I am moving to the USA's museum mecca, I think I will have many fantastic internship/job possibilities. Fortunately, I received a grad assistantship, so I will be working with an initiative that documents the work of aging artists, thus combining two of my big passions: serving the elderly and promoting the arts. I couldn't have tailored a better program for me, and I am anxiously waiting to learn more details.

After telling a few friends about my plans, the follow up question is always, "Is your husband coming too?" The answer is yes, of course - because of his job, he can't pick up and leave quite as easy as I can, but for his quickly advancing career in international development there are few cities that are more in tune to his field than D.C., and it is a good move for him too. For a little while, it may be just me and the pup in Washington, but I have full confidence Mike will not be able to be separated from his newly naturalized dachshund for long.

Although I've been preparing to move from Budapest for almost a year, it is still a bit surreal to know that I will be leaving my home for the last 3.5 years, and Mike and I will live together in the States for the first time. The logistics of the move (packing years of accumulated things back into a few suitcases, collecting our possessions in Colorado and Texas and moving to a city in which I've only spent a total of six days) are overwhelming, but I am trying to take it one small move at a time.

Just like I never would have dreamed of living in Hungary, I never thought I would peregrinate to the East Coast. However, I am finding that a life of unplanned blessings and adventurous opportunities happily exceeds what my imagination fathoms.

Celebrating Sixty

Location: Dallas, Texas
August 14, 2010
Adventure #27

Besides this new blog, I have my old staple blog: “I Love My Country, but I Think We Should See Other People.” And while that is its proper title, Mike and I refer to it as something different: The Pops Blob.

Pops is Mike’s vivacious grandfather, with whom he shares many wonderful personality traits, like the ability to maintain a jolly disposition always. Another thing everyone should know about Pops is he, aside from my own parents, is assuredly the biggest fan of my blogs or my “blobs" as he sometimes refers to them. If I am slacking on making entries, I always know Pop will have something to say about it, which keeps me quite motivated. Thus, Mike started fittingly calling my blog the “Pops blob” in his honor. It is only fitting that I should devote an entry to him.

During our stop in Dallas we had a wonderful opportunity to observe an impressive milestone in Pops and his wife Mimi's life that deserves a mention. On August 11, Pops and Mimi’s enjoyed their 60^th wedding anniversary - wow! To celebrate, our family hosted an intimate, lovely party in their honor. What made the occasion extra special was that the next day was Mike and my anniversary, so it was moving to think about our infant marriage compared with this happy, mature 60-year strong one and all the things Mike and I have to look forward to. As Mimi told me on the day of her party, Pops has always been sweet to her throughout their entire marriage, and Michael has the same kindness. I’d say that’s a pretty auspicious thing for me to remember for the next 59 years.