I think I am becoming who you are. Isn't that weird. Yesterday on the bus I realized it. remember meeting those Mormon guys? The young gibbering one and the other more collected one? Isn't it strange how I fit in better with the more mature one? And I did too. I was so cool.

The princess is slowly turning into the Queen.

Or maybe not so slowly thanks to this year. Really feel regal. Like I walk into a room and I own it just by presence. Like no one near me can even compare. And I don't even have a crown.

I don't, that is, it you're looking for gold and gemstones.

And mom was right, wasn't she? About so many things. About health. Homesickness. Change. I really think I beginning to recover from homsickitis. Its leaving me and I'm beginning to immerse myself in this experience. This is so cool.

What changes will become of this? Its hard to say. Sometimes I can't believe that I'm even here. The incredible amount of chance it took to get me here just kills me.

Is my head getting too big? I don't know. But I feel like the wise woman. The witch in her cottage who can look in peoples eyes and see their age. Their true age. I feel like I can do that now. And everybody is so young.

This gives me the image of Rafiki. "Correction, I know your Fada...." But am I becoming him?

I feel like I am in the wind, and the wind itself. I am blowing around myself in circles. Like a man screaming Jumanji.

And my life will never be the same. You know this. You've seen it. Maybe you're grinning at my naivety, or maybe your smiling, nodding, saying, "That is where it all began."

I am sinking back into the earth and rising up from it. I am becoming everything I once thought I was and ever wanted to be. I am throwing away my tiara and putting on the crown. And I can see that sparkle in your eyes. I know it, for it is mine to.

With love through the ages,

Julie. The new Queen.