Traedogg Down Under

You know, its days like today you ask yourself… how the hell did I get so lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life? At age 22 (in Australian time.. though only 30 min away from US time too) I really couldn’t ask for more. You’d think being so far away from home on your birthday.. away from family and friends and the boyfriend… that a “birthday” might be a pretty good reason to feel homesick (especially a 22nd birthday.. how depressing! what an old geezer I am!). But despite nine hours of work and three hours of travel time, my birthday away from home was all that I could have ever asked for… and more.

Not only did I get all the best wishes and love from everyone who loves me at home (most of whom even remembered by Australia time), but my new “family” (a slightly demented one.. but we willingly admit it) have helped to make this an unforgettable day…and for that matter, year of my life. To all of my friends and family at home who have continued to love, support and care about me from afar: you are my rock… my life and I cant wait to get back and pick up right where we left off.

But.. in the meantime… I AM SO THRILLED to say that my “family” in Australia are some of THE GREATEST, most THOUGHTFUL people I have EVER MET! They went OUT OF THEIR WAY to make the day of someone they just met not more then 50 days ago……I dont know what moves people to be so generous, and so inherently good, but I am certainly thankful for it. Let me explain who this “family” is. For those of you who know me, I am always being labeled by all my sports teams, friends, etc as the “mom”. I’m a little to responsible, organized, mature, serious…(but also incredibly loving too;)) for my own good. But in my new house, I was FINALLY NOT LABELED A MOM!! (See everyone.. I’m loosening up!) I WAS GIVEN THE ROLE OF: METROSEXUAL DAD!!! YESS!!!! Don’t ask me where this came from, but the six of us roomies sure had a good laugh over it a few days ago. And everyone in the house was assigned their own “role” in the family. Britt is the mom, Alex and Anna are the wild teens and Jen and Bree are the immature, yet fun-loving “kids”. (we are lame I know… but for us, its “home!”.. you gotta do something millions of miles away from everything you know!) So on my 22nd birthday, it was this “family”, along with all of you from home who cared enough to send snail mail, e-cards, and IM love who literally “made my day.”

So, the days events. I started my birthday bright and early (literally) with a 545 wake up call followed by a 1 1/2 hour commute, 9 hour day of work (where I met two NBL players at a publicity function), and another 1 1/2 commute, which brings us right up to about 700pm when I arrive home again… EXHAUSTED but excited for dinner and a movie plans with the roomies. I walk into the house and the door to my room has a huge poster on it and two little balloons decorating the door. I push it open and my room is FILLED with balloons… the entire floor. Somehow, amongst a final exam, 2 presentations, and a full day of work for the other “intern” at the residence… my roomies found the time to blow up 50+ balloons and decorate the house with birthday signs/decor. So unnecessary, but just what I needed after a long day of work. Then, since Thai is my new favorite food, and I get cashew chicken nearly every other day for dinner, I decided that is EXACTLY what my birthday meal was going to be. So all six of us head off to dinner at one of the best Thai resturaunts in the city (and since there are about 100 of them… literally… thats a bold statement!) I go to pull out my money, and they wouldn’t let me pay!! (they aren’t supposed to do that!! only the 410/541 roomates do that!!!) And keep in mind, they were insistent on paying for me after three of them had ALREADY split the cost of my sky-diving dvd/photos for my “birthday”, which were over 100 dollars. WHO DOES THAT!? Why are these girls spending all of their money on me!! Then, two of the girls had to leave after dinner to work on hw, but the rest of us went to Red Eye (loved it.. and laughed the whole way home about it.. (if you’ve seen it.. u know why)).. and then I get home, and all of a sudden there is a cake and candles and singing and a Birthday Card! (signed by everyone in the “family” in their “role”) It was all just incredibly unexpected. Everyone is so busy, we all have mid-terms, spring break is in a week, we are all going broke with all the sight-seeing/trips and these five incredible girls not only spent so much of their money, but more importantly their time, energy and love on me. And i dont know what the hell I did to deserve it. It just really touched my heart.

To all of you back home, I miss you terribly, but your love and best wishes meant the world to me…. even though you couldn’t be here with me, singing, giving me hugs, decorating my room….. The fact that you took the time from your day to think of me and send your best warms my heart. But take comfort in knowing I am with some very special girls. They are doing a hell of a job in your absense… and without them, I would be terribly homesick. So sorry about this gushy blog… (although I’m convinced the only people still reading are my family and nick… and you too mrs. martin!) But if the rest of you are out there and just too shy to post…. sorry about the sentimental nature of this blog. But on my birthday… I can do WHATEVER I WANT! (which would include jumping out of a plane.. but I already did that last week!!!!!) (Pictures of the birthday are on snapfish….. www.snapfish.com username: tlswartz@wisc.edu password: missyou … make sure you click on the PHOTOs tab.. my pictures are in blue, my roomates are in green!)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 13th, 2005 at 10:00 am and is filed under In Australia!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.