The Prodigal Blogger

So, it has been almost four months since my last blog post.  Oops!  Anyone who has ever looked at my childhood diaries (which I actually hope is no one) should realize that I don’t exactly have a good track record with journaling. Throughout my [pre-]adolescence, I would diligently enter my thoughts and emotions every couple days for about 2 weeks, and then six months or a year would pass before my next entry. So I personally wasn’t too surprised when I found it hard to keep up with these entries, as much as I enjoy writing them.

To be honest, I had actually given up my blog as lost… but recent events (three in particular) have inspired me to begin again and to continue on as conscientiously as possible.

1. I took a 10 day vacation with my parents.  After meeting in Rome, we embarked on an amazing cruise of the Eastern Mediterranean, which involved an abundance of four of my favorite things in life:  cheese, ancient ruins/Greek mythology, olives, red wine.  On this trip my parents subtly reminded me that some people do read my blog and have been wondering why I haven’t posted anything. Recent event #1.
2.  Upon my return to Ghana, Jamie and I realized that we only have 11 weeks left here in Ghana. (76 days as I write this).  I realized that there is still so much that I want to do and see here in this wonderful country, and that I don’t have as much time to do it (or write about it) as I thought.  Recent event #2.
3.  I learned that Katy (the consultant from NAP) has also been keeping a blog, but that she just recently shared it with friends/family back home. After some sneaky googling, I found her blog.  Not that I’m competing with her, but reading her entries reminded me of all the day-to-day stuff that I still haven’t explained to family and friends. And how many of the stories that I share with my coworkers will have been forgotten by the time I return home in August. Recent event #3.

So, consider this the renaissance of my blog. I’ll do a couple quick summary entries here at the beginning to update everyone on what’s been happening in the past several months, as well as the adventures I hope to have as my time in Ghana comes to a close.

P.S. About the title of this entry:  for the longest time, I assumed that in the parable of “The Prodigal Son,” the word prodigal referred to the fact that the son came home. (Hence, the pun emphasizing my return to the life of blogging).  One day, however, I decided to look it up (just to check), and discovered that I was wrong. (After seeing my unremarkable GRE Verbal scores, I shouldn't have been surprised at my error).  Using the nifty thesaurus on my MacBook, I found the following as some of the synonyms listed for prodigal: extravagant, spendthrift, profligate, imprudent, generous, lavish, unsparing, abounding in, abundant in, rich in.  Outside of that specific biblical reference, prodigal actually refers to someone who does something in excessive or to the extreme.  

Once again – oops!

I chose this title, despite it's potential inaccuracy, to emphasize my "homecoming" to my blog and with the hopes that in my remaining 11 weeks, I will actually come to embody this moniker through many many posts!