And it was, a good year, no it was a great year. I did so many things I wanted to do and traveled to great places with great friends. I have lived this past year as if every day can be the last. Maybe it started when I found out that the wife of one of my colleagues had a premature baby at the end of January and then was hospitalized in February with stage 4 cancer. She was only 38 years old and although I had only met her once, this moved me beyond belief. Sowmya died in June and that is when I started my bucket list and my blog.
It was a year of travel: I went to Hawaii in March and had a great time with my friends there. I flew to New York in spring time to meet friends from the Netherlands, spending a great Easter weekend in one of my favorite cities in the world. For 4th of July I spent a relaxing 4 days in Tahoe with my “American family” Mark, Virginia and Sophie
One of the travel highlights of last year was my trip to Italy in August. First Andrea & Tony’s wonderful wedding in Spoleto and after that a couple of days in Rome. Rome had been on my list for a long time and it is one of those cities that I fell in love with instantly. To recover from all my trips I went back to Hawaii in September for a long weekend of sun, sand and relaxation. In October Sally and I flew to Scottsdale Arizona for a girl’s weekend and we had a great time at the Westin Kierland resort. We spent Thanksgiving in Tahoe again with Virginia’s family. It was beautiful, a winter wonderland as the first snow of the season arrived early this year. And finally in December another trip to New York with Genie: Christmas shopping and to getting into the Christmas spirit. New York is great; New York around Christmas time is the greatest city in the world.
It was a year of music. First there was the Elton John and Billy Joel concert in February and a week later Bon Jovi. Virginia and I went to see Daughtry and Sandhya and I went to Lady Gaga for my birthday. The music highlight of the year was definitely the Bon Jovi concert in July in Chicago. Virginia and I flew to Chicago just to see the last US concert. We had seats in the circle, row 3 and it was unforgettable. Since then we have probably created the youngest Bon Jovi fan in the world. Sophie started recognizing my ring tone and started singing “It’s my life”. After she watched the DVD of the concert in Madison Square Garden on my iTouch for the first time this summer, she must have seen it since more times than anybody and she sings along with Living on a Prayer, Raise your hands, Hallelujah and Born to be my baby. She will look at the pictures on my phone and say “I like Jon Jovi auntie Ril”. The next generation Bon Jovi fans have arrived.
It was also a year of health. I had told myself as part of my new year’s resolutions that I would finally be better at working out regularly. In March I started running; yes imagine: me, running. I have never been a runner, I always hated running. And here I am: it’s December 2010 and I am still running. I am running 2-3 times a week. And I love it. I did my first half marathon in October and I proudly own my Tiffany necklace that says “I run to be, NWM 2010”. And because I am running, I am living healthier, eating healthier and I have never felt so energized. This allowed me to indulge every now and then in my other hobby: cooking and eating. I shared many nights with good friends, good food and good wine this year. Goody and I had a couple of very fun cooking classes at the Professional Culinary Institute. (The most important lesson I learned is that I will never make croissants myself again).
Yes 2010 was a great year and now I can’t wait to start a new decade. I have so much to be grateful for, I am healthy, I have a job, I travel to great places. I have my family back home and my American family in California. I have wonderful friends all over the world. Roll on 2011; I am looking forward to new beginnings, spending time with old friends and new ones, visiting new places and old ones. Life is a journey and I am enjoying the trip as much as I can.
0 comments:
Post a Comment