ront-mundu: When a fire starts to burn...

This post has been a loooong time coming...It is a good thing I can post-date the blog :p

So March was my last post and a lot has happened since then, of course. I have been to Salzburg for my final days in the field as a student, where I saw the only snow I have seen in 2015.

But where I also had some lovely runs in the sun, with amazing views.

We have done some work in the garden, planting Italian herbs that we have enjoyed all during the year. The little corner of Curacao in the form of bougainvillea is still alive now in the mild winter we have been having.

In my final days of classes before the summer, I have passed this kiddie pool many times. Every time the water was running, meant that the temperature was going to rise above 20 degrees that day. So that was always a happy moment!

Most of my classmates have graduated this summer, so we had a final BBQ with the class, one of many gatherings with family and friends this year.

We ran. We ran a lot this year.

And we have enjoyed so much good music, good food and quality times with family and friends!

We said goodbye to Onyx and hello to Wonyx.

I wrote and presented my thesis about Cultural Heritage and water. I did well :) I got my grade just as I switched my phone back on after flying home to my family over the summer. This trip happened quite unexpectedly and when I booked, our friend Arjan said he would go along and booked the same flight.

Always a good feeling to walk out into the heat of the island after spending so many hours on the plane!

We had a lot of fun, but that was because we had a work hard/play hard vacation. Arjan and I had the main goal to help out as much as possible at the foundation. We are used to working hard, but even so we had forgotten how the work never ends there! So we spend our spare free time mostly napping in the sun or happy hour-ing with friends.

But that is not what I want to blog about. This vacation has been good for me in so many ways. After giving it my absolute all to finish my thesis and all other classes, it was good to have a break from the mental stuff and have more physical exercise. But also I got to spend time with 2 guys, other than my husband, that have played a part in my life. Maybe it was timing, maybe it was my mental state, maybe it was the weather, but I could feel something change in me. I had many good conversations, with one of our newest friends and one of my oldest friends. About what makes a person confident, how to let go of stuff, about regrets and dreams, about love and choices. And also about silly stuff, music, the pencil test, our biggest blunders, Michelle and such. And we had good food, good music, good talks in the backdrop of my youth. I can clearly remember sitting in a car with a good surround system, going home after Wet & Wild, with Disclosure playing. When a fire starts to burn, and it starts to spread, she gonna bring that attitude home, don't wanna do nothing with their life....
And I made a decision. The confidence I feel when I am on the island, how different I feel in my skin (the tan does help), the happiness I feel just being, I have to hold on to that. We chose to move away from the island. It is important to find the joy of just being in the situation we are in now, not only in the situation we wish to be in in the future. I can make more of an effort to be graceful and grateful where I am at.
And you know what, it worked. I am still a lot more conscious of how happy my life is than before. I am more proud of what I have accomplished already, instead of seeing only what is still to do. It takes work, but by now it has become the norm. I did take the attitude home.