According to my Tripit stats for 2014, I’ve been on the road for 84 days so far this year. On 18 trips, I’ve traveled to 34 cities in seven different countries. I never even though about it much until I looked at the stats on this app’s page. I’m such a spoiled brat.

I flew down to Atlanta today to participate in “team building” activities with an agency client, and with my boss, hosted a team holiday party. At the Painted Pin, where we played games, bowled, ate and drank, a few of my clients gave me a hard time about not telling them about my recent engagement. I’m not sure how you suavely tell clients that you don’t see face to face every day that you are engaged, so I just started calling Chris my “fiance” one day, and they figured it out. And of course, they made me tell them the engagement story.

“Wait, you got engaged in Brazil during the World Cup?” they shrieked. “Didn’t you just say that you were in Europe for Thanksgiving and are going to be in Australia for Christmas? Can you just legally adopt us now because we want your life!!”

I really am a very blessed, privileged person, and in the last two years, I’ve thought about it more than ever, particularly given the hardships I’ve encountered. Sometimes, it really does take the worst in life to put things into perspective. I never thought that at the age I am now that I’d be traveling as often as I do for both work and pleasure, and that I’d have seen this much of my country and the world now. For a long time, it was just a wistful dream. It’s a funny thing when your dream becomes a reality.