“Happiness is the art of never holding in your mind the memory of any unpleasant thing that has passed.”
— Unknown

Wow. An entire week has flown by and only six short weeks remain before I leave for my new life in Japan. I have been feeling somewhat overwhelmed lately with all of the preparations I need to make in order to ensure a smooth transition before I leave, but one thing that brightened one of my days this week was receiving these two documents in the mail. The item on the left (in the picture above) is of the official title to my car (Cassandra – is what I named her). It still feels so surreal and (yet) so good to know that I managed to completely pay for my first car, my “dream car”, without any hitches or problems. I know it’s “only a car” but I think it’s more about the completion of my goal and the commitment I have to my goals that really makes me smile. The other document (on the right), is my official discharge from the United States Marine Corps after 8 years of active and inactive service. Has it really been that long already?

In other news, I went to the JET Program orientation in Portland on Saturday and met some of my fellow co-workers. Granted, none of them are headed to the same location as me, but the people within my region (Kansai) are pretty awesome. As a matter of fact, many of my colleagues/co-workers are phenomenal human beings. I even managed to coordinate with a few of them with intentions to take trips down to Okinawa during one of our school breaks, together. I feel so blessed by all of the amazing people and incredible events that are manifesting in my life. So-much-so, that I can only hope that I can share this positivity with everyone else around me. I often tell myself that I don’t deserve all of these good things, or all of these great opportunities, but regardless of the matter I will turn it around and spread as much good and wellness to those around me, as much as I can.

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh

I hope you are all having a beautiful day.