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On June 20th exactly two months have elapsed in my travels and is also that of my birth. One score and a decade ago my nineteen year old mother and twenty three year old father had a very hairy baby that they did not know what to do with. I was told I even had black hair on my ears that eventually fell off. Having a baby so young forced them to get married and grow up rather quickly. So you see, I'd like to take some credit for raising them as well.
A few years ago, thirty sounded daunting to me but now that it's here, I couldn't be happier. I am at my physical and mental peak and traveling the world. As I reflect over my life I realize I haven't done too bad for a girl from Eddystone, Pa. I became a homeowner at twenty two with the help of no one, pursued my craft of hairdressing for almost fourteen years and achieved all of my goals with that, have too many wonderful friends to count, was on stage with Diana Ross in the third grade, hung out with Roger Waters and have my mid-life crisis behind me (culinary school). Although my twenties were marvelous, I'm glad some transformations took place. My pasty translucent skin, flaunting blue veins became "ivory", love handles are now "curves", and my contorted teeth give me "character". My ideas on friendship, success and relationships have taken unexpected turns as well.
The morning of my birthday, I arrived on the night train from Slovenia to Budapest. It was the worst ride of my life. It was an old dirty train, packed with people and the seats didn't recline at all. They came in and checked for passports about six times just to wake us up and be assholes. Welcome to eastern Europe. My friend Erika surprised me at the train station, I didn't expect to see her there at all. She made me lunch and gave me really cool silver earrings as a gift when we got to her place. That night we went to dinner at an amazing Asian/Hungarian fusion restaurant called Karma. I had roasted duck with Hungarian dumplings and Hungarian red wine. It was so good I'm going back for it again before I leave. After dinner we took a walk along the Danube, which is unbelievable at night. It is the most beautiful part of Budapest. The next day we went to the Turkish baths and got massages. Though the baths were very therapeutic, we got manhandled by big Russian women, clearly you do not have to be licensed to do massage here. Erika was pissed, I thought it was hilarious. You cannot have the light with out the darkness. Though challenging, I am grateful for it all.