Reflections

And once again, as I say every year about this time "I can't believe a year went by so fast."

More than ever it feels like 2010 seriously zoomed by. Blink once it's January. Blink again it's December.

It was an up and down year that seems to be defined by three themes.

Changes:
We finally got the living room painted. We rearranged the furniture in the living room. Nate along with wonderful help built his awesome bar. I moved office space at work three times. My position didn't go away, but also changed a bit by the end of the year.

Loss:
We lost Nate's cat from growing up. We lost my uncle. We lost my grandma. We lost the person my cousin once was to an ugly mental disorder. We lost the opportunity to refinance our house. We lost other people not directly connected to us, but to those close to and important to us. It was a bit of a hard year that way.

Fun:
We started going to roller derby and became addicted. We got to take the first vacation in four years up to Itasca for an entire week. We had a short weekend getaway to a cabin with the Praise Project gang. We tried many new restaurants. We rocked out at Rock the Garden for a second year. We visited the Science Museum. We attended our ten year high school reunion. We had an outstanding celebration of Oktoberfest with friends in our home on the warmest day of the fall. We had great birthdays and holidays this year.

Those are pretty much the big highlights this year. Overall, I wouldn't say it was a good or a bad year. It kind of just was, you know? I do look forward to 2011 and plans we already have, projects we want to start, things we want to try.

Looking back on the year for just myself, I found myself having moments of self discovery. Not in a bad way, but just truly learning just who I am and also, excepting it. Being ok with where I am in my life journey. Learning not to let anyone else try to define it for me. And I am ending 2010 in a truly peaceful place and am very happy with where my life is currently going. This is me, for better or worse. I thank all of you who have read my story this year and I hope you'll come back to see what happens in my world in 2011!

Happy New Year one and all. (Side note MN Friends - be safe and careful in the potential unsafe driving conditions tonight if you are out partying!)