A very important milestone occurs today: I haven’t seen my mommy in a year! This is the same person who I saw every day for the first 16 years of my life and who drove 2.5 hours each way every month to see me at high school and college, just so she could take me out to eat and buy me clothes and stuff. Now the last time I saw her was at the crappy airport in Kunming just after the Labor Day holiday, a year ago.

I can’t believe she let so much time go by without seeing me.

Ahh, the pitfalls of growing up and moving away. I can’t wait to see both my parents again! The countdown, which officially began some two months and 29 days ago, has resumed with a more manageable number: three weeks!