what a wonderful birthday suprise

as of 4:52 AM, i am now 22 years old. how exciting? but today has been such a wonderful day its hard for me to put it into words, not only for me, but for other people that i greatly care about. This morning at 6:43 (i only remember because i looked at the clock trying to figure out what i had woken to) i got a txt from a very startled lacey that said "Maggie got a fulbright! she scared the living shit out of me too!" and 2 seconds later, maggie is calling just as heather's txt was arriving. i am so proud of maggie! she deserves to be going! it just took poland an extra month and a half to figure it out. and what's better... i now get to go visit her and lacey and alicia while they are in europe doing whatever it is fulbright lets them.
and today just got better. not only is the sun shining and i'm next to a lake, but i got birthday greetings in the mail too! lacey, heather and maggie put together a box of goodies that included the traditional birthday muffins (a bit more smooshed that usual) from maggie with candles and a note with directions to put it all together. lacey sent a book with meaningful text and once of my favorite photos from her time in Europe and heather sent a scrapbook with pictures from the past few years that were all tied together with a great story.
the only way this day could have been better is if i were with you all back in the rainyness of nebraska. thank you soo much. I miss you all!