Old Soul, Young Heart

I was recently reminded of our high school trip to Europe, which happened 20 years ago during this time of year--December 26, 2000 through January 3, 2001. It's wild that this event was more than half my life ago! I felt like going down memory lane and writing about the journey, so henceforth commences my first blog post of 2021, commemorating a long-ago adventure during simpler times (pre-9/11, pre-adulthood, pre-any type of responsibility). The whole music department at Normal Community High School went--marching band, color guard, choir, and orchestra--and we all had performances whilst overseas. I was 16 years old and it didn't register to me at the time how big of a deal it was. I totally took the experience for granted, but, with the proper hindsight now, I'm super grateful. It couldn't have been cheap and I don't think my parents had that kind of disposable income readily available. I wish I could go back in time and truly take it all in, appreciate it fully,