Year of My Best Life

I know it is nearing the end of February and I have not kept up the blog as I had intended to. I do like to sit down and dwell on the past year and re-group life long goals and short term goals. I think it is important to do this, not just once a year but every few months to evaluate and reflect. Reflection is something that I have learned to love. In reflection we review, hash out, cope, prioritize, grow and change. In reflecting over the past year there are emotions on both ends of the spectrum. To say that 2009 was the best year of my life puts limits on my future and daunts my past, so I will refer to 2009 as just a year in my best life. However, I will highlight the events that held significant influence:

After many hours of research and countless conversations with friend, relatives and colleges I started my application process to graduate programs. I received a letter in February with my acceptance into the University of Alabama school of social work.

In January I added an addition to my family, and brought Bella, our sweet little puppy home.

On March 18th Greg and I celebrated one year.

On April 4th Greg took me down to Montevallo to an art show. We ate diner at the local Mexican resturant where we ate dinner the first time I ever met him and where we shared dinner with friends every Tuesday for the 13 months we had been dating. Afterwards he took me to the park where he had first told me he loved me almost exactly a year prior. In that magical park he got down on one knee and asked me be his wife.

At the end of May with one month to go on my lease we started to think about where we wanted to live and the last Sunday in May on a whim we looked at Rosser Farms with no real intention of buying a house and with-in the hour had a contract and less then a Month later, on June 26th , we had closed on our very first home.

In July I lost my Daddy C, and there really are no words.

In August I started my graduate studies.

On September 26, 2009 I put on that perfect white dress surrounded by the ones I love the most and took the journey down Reid Chapel to say I do to my best friend. We kicked it all off with a beautiful trip to Jamaica.

In November I spent the holiday with my new family, and in December Greg spent it with his.

It was what it was and I would not change anything.

L'Chaim

It is important to remind yourself of your past in order to be able to appreciate the present. As I start this blog I am reminded of my past journal. Journal writing has been a big part of my journey. However, this is this first time I have created a journal that is open for others to read. I think this is a good step for me. As I enter into a time in my life full of interesting experiences and new discoveries it is necessary that I share this story with others. I welcome you to join me in this thing called life.

To begin lets take a look in the past:

"Emptiness is not a welcomed feeling by many. We yearn to be whole and complete and when there are aspects in our lives that put us short of that feeling then we are quick to know and think that something is not right. Perhaps some emptiness is a good thing. For it is in the emptiness that we find ourselves ready to be filled with the substance that previously we were scared to be made of. I like to think that this is the case for me as of present."

I wrote this in June 2008. My life was very different then it is today. I had just graduated from college, living in the real world alone for the first time, in a fairly new relationship, and jobless. Not to pat my self on the back but what wisdom and foreshadowing in those words. I think God was speaking to me that night through my writing.

As I look back on my life since that night I am overwhelmed with how much I have been filled with the substances that I never thought would happen and was fearful of for years. Oh how a person can change and grow within 15 months.


As I further embark on this journey I invite you to join me. Take up your cause and come to life. L'Chaim, ("to life") if you will.