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In just a few more days, the frogg files will be two whole years old.

Who would've thought?

I'm trying to remember where I was at just this time two years ago, September 30, 2004. I believe I was in Egypt, my last night there after a three-week sojourn in the Middle East. I believe I was at a restaurant with my friends, having a last "Egyptian" meal before we all went our separate ways, back to our own countries. I believe I was wishing we'd opted to go to someplace like Chili's instead, because oh Lord, I was so sick of pita bread by that time, and nearly choked on every bite.

I believe I was a little broken-hearted.

Sometimes, I will get these odd flash-backs to places I've traveled. I'll be walking along the street and suddenly I will smell a certain aroma, like washing detergent, and I'll see myself walking along a broken sidewalk down to the outdoor laundromat we went to in Bangkok, when we finally got sick of washing our clothes by hand. Sometimes, I will crawl into bed, and for a fleeting moment my mind will be filled with a flashing stretch of sea alongside a black, rugged beach on Auckland's west coast. Sometimes, I will have a sudden vision of the crowded streets of Cairo, and a woman I passed by, who was sitting against a wall near Old Cairo's markets, with a tear running down her cheek.

Sometimes, I'll think of the morning when I caught the sunrise as it glinted off the golden Dome of the Rock behind the walls of Old Jerusalem.

It's not just that I've left pieces of my heart in all these places. I think they left pieces of themselves in me, too.