Out With The Old; In With The New

Reading the reflections my friends and family posted on Facebook and blogs as 2012 drew to a close prompted me to look back on the past year myself and ponder the people, events and places that shaped 2012. The last twelve months were a whirlwind of adventures for us, and I wouldn’t trade a single minute of the wonderful crazy that is my life. Here, in no particular order, are some of the things that happened, the good and the bad:

  1. I got a sister!! I know, pretty big news, right? In other news, my baby brother got married. The wedding was beautiful and couldn’t have been more fitting for the two of them.
  2. We spent the summer hanging out at the lake… who could complain about that?!
  3. I made some wonderful new friends and strengthened relationships with old friends, all people I very much look forward to spending a lot more time with in 2013. I also found myself drifting away from some people with whom I’d been close, and I hope that in 2013 I’ll be able to rekindle those friendships because they are important. If that’s not the case, as often happens in this crazy thing called life, then I know, at least, that I can look back on the times I spent with those people and smile because I know I’m a better person for having known them.
  4. I got my first tattoo! It’s a really cool bat on my shoulder blade. Bat, you ask? Yes, a bat. It’s representative of everything I love about Austin (the City of Bats), and also I just happen to think bats are really cool. I always have. There’s a lot of symbolism with bats, too (and I’m not talking dark voodoo magic here), but I won’t get into that right now.
  5. My brother-in-law moved to Spain. I didn’t realize how much I would miss him until he was gone.
  6. We got to go visit my brother-in-law in Spain for Christmas. How freaking cool is that? It was our first trip to Europe, our first time to fly over the ocean, and our first time to ever fly in a plane big enough to have a first-class section. That’s pretty freaking cool.
  7. While in Spain, I had the opportunity to see a young man whom I’d taught several years before as a foreign exchange student to the United States. I promised him one day I’d come visit him in his country, and it thrilled me to actually get the chance to do that. It was pretty neat to get to introduce him to my family, too.
  8. I started dancing. At first, it was just a little bit, but now I’m totally invested and I’m having the time of my life. I’m learning Two-Step, West Coast Swing, East Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Blues, and (kind of) Salsa. I intend to add Nightclub in 2013. I’ve met some awesome people, people I’m honored to now call friends, through dancing, and I even managed to talk Scotty into doing some dancing with me!
  9. I stood helplessly as I watched paramedics try to save the life of a man I saw get hit by a train, a man I knew deep in my heart would not survive his injuries. I didn’t realize how deeply this tragedy would affect me, but even today, more than six months later, I find myself thinking about that man and his family on a pretty regular basis. I hope his family is healing from their loss… I can’t imagine how hard this holiday season must have been for them.
  10. I started running. And then I started running again. And then I started running again and finally kept up with it. HA! I have one of my best friends Doug to thank for this. Don’t tell him I said this, but I actually enjoy running. I think I’m going to finish a half-marathon with him in two weeks… I’m not quite to the let’s-run-the-whole-thing-together point yet, but my running goal for this year is to run a half marathon in a reasonable amount of time. I should probably get up right now and go for a run…

I can honestly say I have zero regrets for 2012, and I am looking forward to 2013 and the great adventures that are in store for us. Already we have a ski trip planned with some of my most favorite people in the world, exciting shenanigans planned for my birthday (more on this later), hopefully a casino trip with the brother and sister in March, fingers crossed for a chance to visit my roomie in Cali in February, and… drumroll please…

Let this be the official written announcement that we are putting our house on the market and are moving into the heart of Austin. There’s already a sign in our yard that says, “Coming Soon!” and by next week, our beautiful house, which I’ve loved for the last four years, will officially be for sale. EEEK! I’m so excited…and overwhelmed.

Here’s to an exciting new year! Also, I didn’t get our Christmas cards made this year, so I did new year cards instead. Here’s a sneak peak:

newyear