Two nights ago over dinner with friends, I realized that it had been exactly one year since my sudden and unanticipated return to my home town in Texas, after almost 10 rambling years of gypsy-hood. I’m big on anniversaries of any kind, so I immediately proposed a toast, and then (to my friends’ well-concealed dismay) began to wax sentimental about myriad ways my life has changed. I have always been a person to embrace change; indeed, prolonged sameness gives me what my friend D calls “an itchy ass.” Consequently, my memories are a collage of people and places from around the country and world. Of all the changes I’ve endured, including evacuation from New Orleans precipitating Hurricane Katrina, 2007 was my most whirlwind year yet.

Here are some of the ways in which my present life demonstrates a marked contrast from my life just over one year ago: (more…)