I have a Countdown App on my phone.

It used to tick down the days... hours... minutes... seconds... milliseconds until I could hop a plane back home. For a holiday, a long weekend... a vacation, on occasion.

Hasn't been touched in three months. Until today. (Far from a numerical savant, but pretty certain I've now been back a quarter of a year. Still digesting).

Driving to work. An unfamiliar ring trumpets through the speakers. Like an actual trumpet. Like I nearly fumble my scorching to-go cup of coffee trying to stub out the brassy blare.

With my free hand, I flip the screen towards me. "ONE YEAR!!!!!!" is the message staring back in bold, white letters. (Excessive exclamation points included, yes).

My mind entirely elsewhere, it takes a few beats to register. Ah, this date in history. September 27. One year ago. My official start date at the Worldwide Leader.

I'd punched that date into the Countdown App months and months ago. When I'd all but mapped out life. Before securing a firm grip on the whole life-can't-be-mapped memo.

(At this point, I'm taking a full-on, chronologically-backwards mental lap at the light on 45th and Burnet).

Uprooting. Here and there and back again. And if an all-inclusive swap in employment and locale isn't enough, how about relationship status? Yeah, that too.

I don't know a lot of things (question marks are a recurring theme lately), but I do know this... Sink me in a bucket of change (self-inflicted or not) and I'll kick like hell to stay afloat. And it's that... the challenge... that propels me.

Funny how a glossy white slip of paper, no bigger than my pinky finger, can wallop me over the head with perspective.

(Yep, today I found comfort tucked in an Asian wafer).

The irony? Minutes before cracking it open, I was dropping frustrations like hot potatoes... upon very patient ears. Cynical, indeed. And uncharacteristically so. Chalk it up to a cumulative nine hours of sleep across three days. (Week 5. It's been a grind. Rewarding. Exhausting. And if we're keeping it real, I'm elated it's in my rearview mirror).

I rarely throw a fortune away. (Fun fact). I'll find the buggers hiding in coat pockets or cup holders or bottoms of purses. The particularly sage ones earn a spot on the fridge. Guess where this one's going...