Official

     Today was a big day.  After (doing potentially poorly on) my Japanese final, I met Luckie for lunch at one of my favorite places.  That's not the big part- it's just a good part.  Anyway, the big part is that I applied for my very first passport today.  I'm very excited.  Really very excited.  Super duper excited, one could say.

     What's the big deal?, you're thinking.  It's just another form of identification, something else to worry about having on trips.  And if you are actually thinking that, you, sir, are wrong wrong wrong.  It isn't 'just another' anything.  It's my official key, telling me the entire world is open to me now (or very nearly anyway, with the exceptions of places like North Korea and Cuba and wherehaveyou, but that's not the point).  Anywhere I want, there I can go. 

     That's a pretty big realization to a girl who grew up living with her brother and single mother in a 600-square foot, 2 bedroom, tract house in a shitty neighborhood next to the airport.  I used to watch the planes taking off and wonder where they were going; I'd occasionally start to cry, thinking I'd never get to go wherever that was.  Then I grew up a bit and discovered I'm pretty good at picking up languages.  The truth is that I never seriously thought I'd get a chance to go anywhere to use them.  I've traveled a bit in the States and met people from many cultures, but a Japanese supermarket in Chicago is a very far cry from a Japanese supermarket in Japan.  My passport says that I can essentially spin a globe, point to a colored blob, and make plans; my passport is instant permission to go there.  Yes, I know all about visas and things, but visas mean nothing if you don't have the passport letting you get out of the country.

     Now, I've got a trip to Germany in June.  Then I just may spin a globe and plan.