Year-end reflections

So folks, 2009 is drawing to a close. 2010 is hovering over the horizon, and with it, a whole new decade. I don't know why I didn't realize that a decade was coming to a close with 2010 upcoming but, for some reason, I needed a friend of mine to point this out to me.

Highlights of the new Millennium decade - the '00s:

Graduation from high school
Graduation from college
Reached legal adulthood
Blossoming of great friendships
Learned to drive
Bought my first car
Awesome internship
City living
First job
Supported myself
Introduction to alcohol, and subsequent legal ability to imbibe
Traveled to a land afar (India), a land nearby (Canada) and to states I had never been to
Improved dancing ability
Learned how to dress myself properly (even if I can't afford to do this)
Experimentations
Discovered my writing talent
The birth of Bitch, please

Pretty much everything of interest happened to me after age 13.

As this new decade dawns, I am glad to be alive. I am excited for all the accomplishments that I have yet to undertake.

About two weeks ago, I encountered a life-threatening situation. I was in a car accident (I don't know if that's the correct term here) where miraculously, everything went OK. En route to the Milwaukee airport departing for YouthBuild training in Vegas with a car full of dudes, the SUV I was riding in hit a patch of black ice. Apparently, we were almost struck by another vehicle that decided to pass us at we careened out of our lane. And we very nearly hit a signpost as our skilled driver maneuvered us off the highway and into a ditch. We went down a steep decline and our car spun around, once again miraculously, to face the road.

I had my eyes closed the whole time, somewhat in a state of denial and also praying to any higher power that would listen (I'm not kidding this was my mantra: Jesus, Shiva, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Allah, Zeus, Jehovah ... really, anyone.) When I opened my eyes, we were all unscathed. The car was a little worse for the wear but, no real damage was done. The guys were able to get the car back on the highway. Though we missed our flight and had to chill in the airport for a good 10 hours (our airlines only flew out twice a day), we still made it to Vegas, alive and well!

I'm not a religious person. I have been struggled with spirituality and faith and all these sorts of issues in the past. I was raised Hindu. Orthodox Hindu with a liberal twist, if that is such a thing. This means my family is super-religious. But I was allowed to eat meat growing up (not beef of course) and I wasn't banned from any sorts of activities that strict people might disallow. I have yet to tell what impact this moment had on me spiritually. That is for the future to reveal.

What I know is this. I am young and as I am in my early 20s, I think it is OK to just want to have fun as long as I respect myself, my family and others around me.