Don't blink, or you'll miss me

These next six weeks are going to be absolutely insane for me.  I'll be gone a few days this week to the Loire Valley, then I'm home for one day.  Then I leave for Morocco for three days, where I will be presenting at a conference (eep!).  Then I'm home for three days of class on Strategic Analysis (meh).  Then C & I head off to Thailand for a work trade show and a few days of fun in the sun afterwards (yay!).  Then I'm back for two days of class, after which I head immediately to the US again for two weeks because my boss is moving to China (yay for going home, boo for more work for me after his move). In the middle of that trip, I will be flying to Montreal for a mini-Bretagne reunion with the girls (woohoo!). And then it's back to France once again for more class, and all of the sudden, it's mid-April and I'm all "Whoa, where did spring go?".

I'm telling you, it was tiring just writing all of that down. But on the days when I get annoyed with living out of my suitcase, I try to remember that I am fortunate to live this crazy life.  To be able to travel the world and to have free trips home to see my family.  For example - SuperBowl Sunday, I was in Minneapolis, surrounded by my family - aunts, uncles, cousins, my bro & his girlfriend - and I was absolutely bursting with happiness to be able to spend that time with them. I mean what a normal American thing to do - be with those you love on SuperBowl Sunday.  Having a few drinks and eating nachos and other nibblies while gossiping about the commercials and the half-time show.  All things I had given up on doing when I moved to France.

Of course there were tinges of sadness in there - I mean, they all live about 20min apart, so they can get together at any time and I miss out on a lot of family dinners. But I am still so lucky that I can be there with them at least four times a year. It's enough that the little ones are starting to recognize me, and if I think about, I am back in MN even more often than most of my friends who actually live in the US. 

2013 is shaping up to be one of my busiest years ever - between the work changes, loads of travel and the work my masters  requires - but I'm still trying to keep the big picture in mind and remind myself that all of these things I'm doing are actually pretty cool (if a bit much all at once lol).  And I do have to admit that I do not mind all of the 1st class upgrades the frequent travel is bringing my way....though I have yet to live out my dream of flying 1st class on an international flight.  A girl can still hope though, right?