Caught a fish and dropped it in. Finnegan, begin again.

Forget the past ten days. I feel like today is actual New Years Day.  Yesterday was Tim's last day as a civil servant. His training for the Foreign Service begins on Monday.  What does that mean for me?

First, it means that my day-to-day life changes: I won't be commuting to and from work with him every day, having lunch together, or chatting on MS Communicator. I realize that this level of communication with one's spouse throughout the day is abnormal. I get it. But I'll still miss it.

Second, it means that things are going to change very rapidly over the next six weeks. While Tim attends training every day, I will also have about one training or event to go to every week, which makes me really, really happy that I already know the ins and outs of the State Department and won't have to 1) try to get oriented as a visitor 2) commute for training or 3) explain the process to my boss. She already knows more about it than I do, so she's SUPER understanding that I'll be leaving for large parts of the day sort of randomly.

I am NOT a resolutions person to begin with. My life's resolution is not to suck at being a person and I don't feel the need to renew that commitment every year. If I DID make resolutions, they would probably be the normal ones:

Travel more
Read more books
Be happy with my job
Lose weight
Have a baby*
Blog more

*I know this is not a "normal" resolution

As for traveling, this will not be an issue. We find out on February 14th where we'll be headed. This has a sort of delicious symmetry, as it's not only Valentine's day, which is the day TEN YEARS AGO that Tim told me his life's dream was to live in Brazil and that he wanted me to go with him; it is also the day before his 30th birthday.

Reading more books: let's be honest, this isn't really a problem.

Be happy with my job: This astonishes even me, but shhhhh, listen.... **I actually am happy with my job**  Psychologically speaking, it could be in part because I know I'll be leaving it sometime in the next 3-12 months. But I really, actually like it. Also, even if I didn't, I'm VERY excited about the prospects for my career while we're abroad. I'm equally excited about being unemployed (I am SO good at it) as I am about the idea of possibly working at a post abroad.

Losing weight? This is America. Everyone wants to lose weight. Even skinny people. When I'm unemployed I'll work out more. Or I'll get pregnant and will eat a lot and this will happen:

Let's be honest, that already happens.

The blog: well, see? Here we are.

Basically, the moral of this story is that we've been thinking and talking and working towards the Foreign Service for a very, very long time and it's starting to really sink in that it's happening right now.  I will try to write more, if not for you, then because good or bad or both I don't want to forget.