Finally Feels Like Summer

It's been a long week. Fun, but long. I prepped frantically for the ACT, spent time with my grandparents, and worked on the collection of short stories I am currently writing. Friday morning saw my mother and myself hopping into the car and driving about 2.5 hours to Warsaw. There I studied and we wandered about the city for a few hours before we returned to the hotel and went to bed.

Our wakeup call on Saturday was my phone alarm sounding at 6:15 am to Little Mix's song, "A Different Beat". Snagging the pencils, eraser, and calculator I had set out the night before, we drove to the International School of Warsaw where 16 other students and I intended to take the ACT. Unfortunately for one student, it turned out there were only 16 test booklets. So the last two to arrive were marched to the security office. The one who returned told us that he had arrived 20 seconds before the unfortunate boy who was sent away without a spot.

My mother picked me up at one o'clock from the testing center and we drove to Poznan for a post-wedding dinner, which reminds me - I'd like to extend the biggest of congratulations to my sort-of older brother Philip and his new wife Magda on their marriage!

At this dinner, I met members of the family on both sides, almost none of whom I knew, but all of whom were welcoming. And although I was the youngest person there, I was still able to enjoy myself amongst the company of the other guests. In a way, that is how I imagine Oman to be - new and unknown, but at the same time welcoming and exciting.

So at any rate, this post is about family. Because family is not a thing that is defined by blood, family is an attitude, a love, a mutual feeling of compassion and interest. This summer, on August 26, I will meet my new family. Although I know we will be different in many ways, it is those differences along with the similarities that will bind us together. So, to my families - old, new, and yet to come - I promise to be open-minded, curious, helpful, compassionate, considerate, and most of all, to share a piece of myself with you as I hope you will do the same for me.

🎶A Different Beat - Little Mix🎶