Is this real life?

When I called my grandmother a few days ago to wish her a happy 80^th birthday.  I could hear her getting teary eyed on the other end and asked “Grandma, what’s wrong?” She said, “Well, mija, the older you get, the more sensitive you are about everything.” Despite the fact that I have 56 years until I experience the perhaps same level of sensitivity as my grandma, I feel like I had a taste of what that means today. 

Earlier this afternoon, I had my first Arabic class since 2008.  Walking out of the classroom at the end of class, I actually started tearing up.  I was thinking how happy I was that I could still understand the teacher speaking in 100% Arabic, how I had a very successful lesson plan this morning at school where both I learned a lot about Jordanian culture and where the students thanked me after the lesson and told me that “today’s topic was interesting,” and how I am so incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to be doing these things.  And then it hit me; I AM BEING PAID TO DO WHAT I LOVE.  

I understand that writing about this topic puts me in the category of people who other people hate because of their overly bubbly and unrealistically positive attitude.  Ok. I’ll give you that. But, how can I be anything but positive when I’m living a life with everything I could have ever dreamed of having and of doing things I’ve always dreamed of doing?  I feel I need to recognize what an exceptionally fortunate position I’m in and rejoice in it as much as possible now, as I know it will not last forever.  Especially after two years of working and studying myself into oblivion in DC, I am that much more grateful to have this temporary respite during which I am still able to devote myself to two things I love (teaching and learning) while also having enough time to travel, volunteer, make new friends, and write.

Is this real life?