Another "old" post written a few days ago. I'm afraid this sort of "catching up" will happen for a while. Bear with it!

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Okay, I’ve been back in the US for less than 24 hours and I’m going to be in a parade. Seriously, a big, long 4 ^th of July weekend sort of celebration where a thousand people I don’t know will wonder who I am.

It’s all on account of who my ancestors were: founding fathers of Ridgefield, Connecticut where Mom and I are spending the weekend. There’s a big celebration this weekend for the town’s 300 ^th anniversary (in America, that’s old ) and the woman in charge is a friend of Mom’s who decided today that it necessary for me to smile and wave my way down Main Street tomorrow morning.

Great.

I had really gotten used to anonymity, with the exception of Janna’s wedding where many guests were told in German who I was and why I was there, etc. In that case, it made it a bit easier because, although I was no longer anonymous, it was at least explained why I couldn’t communicate. I am not a dim-witted German girl!

In London, complete anonymity. Two days of no one knowing who I was and whether or not I belonged. Thanks to my ipod (a staple item for pretty much every Londoner walking anywhere), I even seemed to fit more often than not. . .except when I was looking at a map because Westminster Bridge is way harder to get to than you’d think.

But now, my inner-city anonymity is long gone. Suddenly, I’m a girl in a car, looking uncomfortable in a long parade of with the streets of London seeming a bit too far away.

If it rains, I’m calling in sick.