Two Good Luck Ducks

My 22nd birthday came and went just about as fast as all the other whirlwind days here do, but brought with it a definite sense of change, a subtle hunch that some different inner gear has begun churning to bring some undiscovered bud to blossom. More than likely, these gears have been working all the time and the "one year older" marker drew my attention, encouraging a closer introspection and examination of how far I've come - not only in the time that I've been here in Buenos Aires, (a mere two months), but in these past four years that have made up my college career.

SIDE NOTE.

To anyone considering studying abroad,

be aware that the experience as a whole

is inevitably an intense exercise in

self-examination and forced progression.

That being said, that alone -

aside from any institutional education -

is reason for everyone to opt for it

if the opportunity presents itself.

My day was absolutely filled with love from the girls I live with in my residence. If you know anything about Latin American culture, you know they are an intimate bunch, sometimes overwhelmingly so - never a want for hugs and kisses on the cheek and "¿todo bien?" "How are you, have things been good?" An unfiltered intimacy. A warmth felt in the heart and not on the skin. For my birthday, "overwhelming" would be an apt description, but only in the most beautiful sense of the word. "Perfection" is truly what it was. And for all the perfection that was packed into yesterday, I am reminded of something one of my exchange amigas told me.

There is a little-known saying in Spain that the number 22 is symbolic for los dos patitos de la buena suerte - two good luck ducks - for the shape of the twos. 22. See the ducks?

I'm not one to believe in superstitions, but if the quality of my day yesterday has anything to do with the way this coming year is going to go, I might believe in the buena suerte of those two little patitos.

Or maybe I can take those two ducks and carry them with me for the rest of my life, through la buena suerte y la mala, and use them to change my viewpoint when I'm behind an immovable roadblock. Maybe the two little good luck ducks jumped into my boat on September 5th, 2013 to give me a way to steer around all the rocks and plow through all the algae of the river I'm voyaging.

I think so.