May the New Year Begin!

Wow. Talk about a dramatic entrance! 2010 really is starting with a bang full of nerves, excitement, joy, and sadness all wrapped up into a bazillion different butterflies flapping around in my stomach.

Butterflies do not make a stomach comfortable.

I'm sitting here jiggling my leg like a mad man because I'm feeling so darn restless. By this time Monday I'll be driving up to Seattle. I've only gone by there in passing (that I can remember) and suddenly I'll be living my life there. Will it be everything I think it will be and more? Am I going to make more soulmate friends, more adopted parents (goodness knows I hoard them teehee!), create more wacky stories to tell my Uda and JT just how I got this bruise or why on earth I got lost this time? Will the rain bother me there as much as it does here or will I be having too much fun to notice?

Quite a big bang if you ask me, and that's just regarding school! I've got other thoughts flying through my head like is this finally the year that I go to Africa? Will JT and I at last be able to live together, on our own, as a married couple before the year ends (possibly with roommates but it's about time we stop bumming a roof off of parents!). Can this be the year that my body starts behaving and showing me the healthy respect it should instead of breaking down on me all the time?

It's amazing how much your brain can talk to you if you let it rant for a few hours.
Ooooh...and your tummy. I need some fuel in me.

But you know, out of all the questions going on and all the drama as of late with my panicking and getting excited and panicking again...I finally felt a little peace last night. Through all this commotion I forgot just why I'm going back to school. I know I want to become a vet, I know I want to start a shelter, but that all kinda got lost because I was freaking out so much about making friends and getting the grades I need. But last night I turned on the tv (thank goodness my mom has Animal Planet!!!) and Pit Bulls and Parolees came on. Now, this woman runs the biggest pit bull rescue in the states, possibly the world, and she is TOUGH! Her mission amazes me and I would love to work with this woman. As I was watching the show it began to settle back into me. The hard work to be put into rescueing these dogs. The effort to show that despite the bad rap pit bulls are GOOD dogs, they just need to be trained like every other dog out there. The rewards of seeing one of them adopted finally (one waited for four years) or recovered from a bad injury or neglectful relationship with a former owner. And that's when it clicked again. The desire to help these animals, as many animals as I can, find a home and live a healthy life. Study after study after study shows how much pets do for us. They relieve stress, banish loneliness, help us heal when we're sick (or keep hanging on to life when we're terminally ill), make us smile because they're running around the house chasing a dust ball, the list goes on and on. The least I can do is make sure that at least a few of them feel the love and joy of having a good human, since they do so much for us.

I'm with Tia (the lady who runs the pit bull rescue, Villalobos): My mission in life is to save as many pets as possible so that hopefully, one day, I won't have to anymore. And it feels so good to remember why I've been put here on earth.