lydia

I can’t even catch my breath. Africa was the most exhilarating, scary, terrible, wonderful, happy, and devastating time of my life. I won’t tell you what happened (you’ll have to read the book I’m writing about it—Lydia Barnes and the Blood Diamond Treasure), but I will say that I have a beautiful diamond around my neck.

Daddy and I are in Amsterdam right now. We’ve been to the Anne Frank House (I loooooooove her!), the Van Gogh Museum (my favorite artist), and the Royal Palace; but honestly my favorite part of Holland was flying into the airport and seeing the canals from above—all beautifully laid out like streets. No, wait. My favorite part was seeing everyone biking everywhere—whether in a business suit or a sweat suit. They do everything on their bikes: talk on the phone, read a book, drink coffee.

We stayed here a day longer than we thought we would so that we could see everything, but we head out early tomorrow morning … to spend Christmas in Israel.

Yesterday was my birthday. I didn’t remember until my dad told me. (He says I’ll get my present when we get to Amsterdam in a couple weeks.) I turned 14, but for some reason it feels like no big deal. At home this day would have been the highlight of the year, but now it’s like … whatever.

Maybe it’s because I’m still so sad about Arway. She was my friend. I don’t even know what to say about it. It hurts too much to say anything.

Here’s a picture of her. Isn’t she beautiful?