8.5 hours

Door to door Cherryvalley Park Belfast to Lawford Road, Kentish Town. Ridiculous when the flight is an hour and 10 minutes. But two buses in Belfast and a bus and two tubes in London. It adds up. I usually take the train into London from Gatwick but the bus is much cheaper and less crowded than the train. But s-l-o-w.

I’m going through 1000s of photos in suitcases, on SD cards, on CDs, on an iPad, on a hard drive... to winnow them down to the best of. Let’s say I’ve looked through 3000 images (I have no idea actually), and I’ve picked, say, my 200 favourite. To do my hallway photo gallery, I have to pick, say, the best 20. I’ve been working on this for months, off and on. I have to say it’s fun to be reminded of so many different places and people I love. This is one of my favourite photos because I absolutely loved hiking in Chile and Peru. That smile is one of true happiness. Outside all day every day, in my cozy tent at night--it doesn’t get better than that.

My sister and I had a horrible fight a few years ago where she told me I’m selfish and self-absorbed. I think about her comments often, sometimes at really weird times. I was helping Molly yesterday, the 9-year-old student I’m helping with reading skills. I very animatedly told her what a good job she was doing and, at the back of my head was this thought: would a self absorbed person be able to relate so well to this girl? Molly and I have a great time every week. I adore her--and Jason, my other student. Molly struggles with say 5% of the words but she’s determined to do better. Jason is a good reader but gets bored easily. We’re reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid right now--I think I’m enjoying it more than he is.

I bring all this up because I’m self conscious about putting up a photo gallery that basically celebrates my life. I’ll be in a lot of the photos. My sister would say Aha! Self absorbed! I would say: I’ve had an extraordinary life and I like being reminded of the people and places that have been part of it. That’s all. People who have kids put up pictures of their kids and their family holidays. If you don’t have kids, are you not supposed to put up photos?
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