Teeth, Love, and Growing Up

*Typing this up late and will likely not edit it. Pls excuse the poor grammar and sentence structure. I spent a lot of today writing (a fun personal project) and will likely use too many commas in this :P* I'm lying down in bed as I prepare to write this. It has been six months since I moved to New York City to start my life; as I think it should be lived. I fear writing this, knowing it has been long delayed and my absence in the group long unexplained.  First of all, hello friends. It has been a while. There's so much I want to say and it'll take a few posts to really share my words of gratitude. EN 502 has changed my life. Each and every one of you in this blog has changed my life. I never knew I was a writer until this class told me I was a writer -- and now I am nothing but a writer. I'm a full-time journalist and I write every day as part of my job! Words have become my tool for success and no other tool fits in my hands properly anymore. This is all to say, thank...

 My mom mailed me salt. Well, technically, I mailed myself salt. It's become a tradition that whenever I leave home, my mom roasts and grinds cumin and coriander seeds and packs the powder into Ziploc bags for me to use in my cooking when I'm on my own. She also includes some other spices, like turmeric and store-bought masalas, in case for some reason I can't find my way to an Indian grocery store. This time around, she also included a Ziploc bag full of salt. I didn't notice until I had unpacked the box I took to the post office on my last day in San Diego. I laughed at the ridiculousness of it, but I also appreciated my mom taking this drastic measure to ensure I never ate unseasoned food. They really are always several steps ahead of us, aren't they? Moving has been, overall, an adjustment. It's exciting and frustrating and restless and comforting, all at the same time. Being in a familiar place with some familiar people around has been a big help. Nonethele...