Returning to blogging after I’ve been away from it for 12 months has been a reunion of sorts. I don’t know how long I’ll stick around this time but I know that blogging almost soothes me. So I am continuing.

My boyfriend’s 10-year high school reunion is tonight. I will not be attending, but he is planning to go.
My mother is hosting a family reunion on Sumday with about 30 family members (many of them my mother’s cousins). I plan to attend.

Reunions place me in a state of social anxiety. I know this about myself and prepare my emotions accordingly. I allow a calm to wash over me. I sort of zone out.

Tonight, in addition to Joe’s high school reunion, is date night. We are on our way to The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. In high school, we called it “the mega mall”.
With social anxiety comes a sometimes disinterested desire to be around a lot of people. This will test my realms of calm. We’re going to an appointment I have at the Apple Store. I need to upgrade my iPhone.

I’ve had one unfortunate incident at The Mall of America. It was Christmas shopping season in 2017. I was in the Anthropologie store purchasing Christmas gifts. And I suddenly got very warm and threw up a little in my purse. I threw that purse away. I ended up on the bathroom floor in a handicapped stall for approximately 20 minutes. The cold floor canceled my nausea and I apparently was not handling all of the people who were likely just doing the same thing I was doing.

I was a very shy child. I hardly remember saying a word in Kindergarten. I was actually looking at my Kindergarten year book today. I could recall about 40% of my Kindergarten classmates’ first names.
I looked through year books Kindergarten to 5th grade. It brought back memories of how I perceived some of my class mates during childhood.

I’ve not been to any of my high school reunions though my high school years were very thriving and enjoyable. Maybe it’s social anxiety again. I don’t know. But life is richer and more enjoyable the older I become. I am able to have more gratitude for the life that I’ve lived.

I’m going to sign off for now…

OK. I’m back. We’re at the Apple Store waiting for my iPhone appointment. The are about 65 people in here. I just did a head count. I am rested and relaxed around all of these people, which I am very grateful for.

I slept in until 4:15 today and I couldn’t get an appointment at any of the malls in the Twin Cities area (there are about five of them) except for The Mall of America at 7:15. I can’t believe how late I slept. So Joe’s missing the first two hours of his class reunion to be here with me, and I am super grateful for that.

I’ll check in with you later to let you know what sort of upgrade I’m writing about. Will it be a brand new phone? We’ll see. I just don’t have enough space to download an application, take a photo, record a voice recording, or record a video. If I can keep this phone, I would be open to it! I’ll keep you posted.

…So I got an iPhone 10R. It was updated and expensive. I recorded a video. Three, actually. I could start a YouTube channel connected to this blog. I’ll keep you posted.

Here is a link I ended my day with because in one of my three videos I read from my first post on my way to Amsterdam in June 2017. The song I had as my American theme song while in Amsterdam was “Video game” by Lana Del Ray:

Until tomorrow, all my love!