• I have to share a feel good story before I get into the whiny stuff. I sent a package to Katja and she sent me thanks, a voice memo thanks from her daughter, and cute photos of the kids with the things I sent. Then she told me my timing was absolutely perfect – her daughter had been bullied by some older kids at school that day and was feeling low. When Katja was talking to her about it and cheering her up a bit, she mentioned our special day together in Leipzig, and that she doubted those mean kids got to miss school to meet their friend from the USA, or have a “big sister” in the USA who sends greetings (I am very honored to be held in this regard!). Katja said that really cheered her daughter up, and then when they got home, there was a package waiting from me for them all. What incredible timing, right?
• Oh my gosh! I don’t think I wrote about this! When we were in Leipzig, we went into a store that specialized in American candy and treats. Katja and her family were very excited to see Twinkies, because they’d seen them in the movie Zombieland but had never tried one. So they got a box to try. The catch is that they were banana flavored (the store didn’t have regular vanilla). Interesting, right? Anyway, the kids loved them, so I put a box of the regular ones for them to try in their package and they were VERY excited.

• I have to say, I’m loving using WhatsApp for keeping in touch with my European friends! It’s a million times better than using Instagram, where most of us met. And it’s really well integrated into Windows, so I can type responses from my laptop which is great because…
• I am so so sick of using my thumbs to type on my phone. I say this all the time. I just hate it! It’s not a difficulty or autocorrect annoyance… just more of an annoyance about how inefficient it is to not use a full keyboard and all of my fingers. I get a lot of long messages and don’t want to type that all out with my thumbs.
• I’m really proud of myself for being less anxious about getting back to people and being immediately responsive in my personal life. That’s just how I operated before, and didn’t realize how draining (and usually, unnecessary) it is. Now (for example) if I see a text come in but I’m about to read my Kindle and go to bed I leave it to read in the morning. I don’t feel bad taking time to respond to things. People know to call if it’s urgent. I have such a hard time focusing as it is, it’s better if I look at communication in chunks of time, rather than stop the task I am doing to respond.
• You guys. We get the nastiest responses on the Fake Meats Facebook and YouTube. It’s really helping me develop a thick skin! I can’t imagine taking the time to leave hate comments about a lifestyle choice you don’t understand. Who cares?

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 454 Part 1