Well, I came home and napped a bit after work yesterday. It's no fun getting sick when you are single because there's nobody there to fuss over you. Nobody to heat up broth soup to sooth a raw throat. You try to cough quietly as to not awaken the sleeping roommates. I must say, I was missing my mommy, a little. Oh well. I've been at this single, independent life now for 18 years now. Holy cow, that sort of makes me feel old. I'm now at the age where I've been flying solo as long as I was under the care of my parents as little kid! Does that make me wiser, more experienced and more responsible than my eighteen year old self? Perhaps. Perhaps only in some areas.
My past has come out to visit me this past week as I've been trying to file on-line for taxes. There has always been something that triggers a problem with on-line filing for me. I promise I have no crazy criminal background! This year's error message was triggered by my date of birth. I wondered why, because I had the correct date typed in. Then I remembered mom had mentioned something about the Taiwanese government making the 15th of whatever month you are born in as an orphan as your birthdate. I dunno, maybe it makes it easier for the workers to plan birthday parties? So I dug the security lock box out and opened it to search my official documents from my adoption. As I suspected, my birthdate on those documents as well as my childhood passport was January 15th. My birthday has always been celebrated on the 20th, as the nun who worked in the orphanage had some contact with my birth parents and knew my birthday was on the 20th. I began to think back to how old mom and dad would have been as they adopted me and brought me to the US the first time. They would have been in their early 20's and therefore something like getting my correct birthdate straight on my social security might have gone unnoticed. When I was older and became a naturalized citizen of the US, my birthdate was correct for the 20th. So I will have to go straighten that out with the social security folks. If I'd known that I had two official birthdays, I soooo would have milked it for two celebrations!
Funny to have something that happened in my life from a time I can no longer remember come to haunt me today. I have a friend in Taiwan right now working as a teacher. (you can see her blog link listed under my links) I had strangely had no strong desire to go back to the country I was born in. I know that for some this seems strange since it's where my "roots" are. In reality my roots are more in Kansas than Taiwan. I have no memory or real ties that take me back to Taiwan. I can see through Sara's blog, that it is a beautiful country and certainly worthy of a luxury visit, but that would be all for me. It's hard for others to understand why I wouldn't have the desire to search out my past. Well, my past is with my Phillips family. There were apparently circumstances in which my birth parents were unwilling to be a part of my life. As I see it I will respect that. They played the role in giving me life. I'm ok with that because that's big, right? Vast differences now separate our lives and I would have to say that I do not feel their involvement in my life was anything beyond bringing me into this world. I will have my chance to meet them someday perhaps in the next life. I think, then, I will have the chance to visit with them and thank them for the vital role they played. Until I feel the strong prompting to visit my past, I will let it lay where it is. I've got an amazing family who have left me for want of nothing. I couldn't have been more blessed. I'm where I'm supposed to be. (except they didn't celebrate my Jan. 15th birthdate all these years!!)
Life is good. I have no complaints when it comes to the big picture. I may be in a sort period of discomfort as I suffer a cold, but life will carry on and I will be over it soon. I've got budget to crunch, oil that needs changed in the Jeep, room and house that needs to be cleaned, an errand with my friend Dena to a middle-eastern grocery store and more design projects! I'll attach my latest Enrichment flier. Gotta run. Got lots to do!
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