Some people have asked me - doesn't the time fly? And I agree, God, where does it go? And some people have commented, it must feel like forever. And I reply, you know, it really does.
And they're all right. Coming together with my MAK 7 peers in Negotino last weekend to celebrate "where it all began" was a trip down memory lane. A time to reflect on the last year, to ponder, to reaffirm bonds.
And to look around and think, man did this place look tough when I got here! I have come a long way. Glimpsing Hotel Park up on the hill, Bo, Kim, Matt, Hank and I dared to venture back once more to photograph ourselves, to make some kind of peace with that awful place where we spent our first five days last November.
I think for me, it was a celebration, a triumph - against pollution, against illness, homesickness, and of course, against The Man.
So how long has it been? Fast enough to keep me on my toes with changing the months on the calendar. Fast enough to apologize for not writing enough, not calling enough. Slow enough for ten million things about my life and my perspective to have altered. And slow enough for me to sit and really think about what I'm doing in my life, and what I can do.
Here's to MAK 7 - to another year of friendship and trying our "best" to do something good for Macedonia. May we have time enough to do what we should, and to talk to babas and shepherds, but not so much time that we get stuck in our own heads. Ajde na zdravje!