2008

2008 was a great year.

It was a year of firsts...
-first resolution kept.
-first vacation without parents.
-first time I really loved college.
-first international flight on my own.
-first time a boy I dated long ago (in high school) got married.
-first full year of consistent discipleship.
-first bachelorette party.
-first (second, and third) blind date.
-first time i flew on a plane that my dad was flying.
-first tattoo (yeah).

It was a year of lasts...
-last time i register for courses at UGA.
-last holiday season in Athens.
-last Audiology class.
-last roommate Christmas.

Looking back, I realize that I learned a lot about life in 2008, specifically, about enjoying life. Being happy is less about circumstances, whether good or bad, than it is about being flexible and rolling with the punches. It's about remembering to Hope. It's about getting to know people better -asking good questions and learning about who they are makes it virtually impossible not to grow in your love for them.

In 2008, I discovered music that made me want to dance or sing or turn the volume all the way up or put that one song on repeat. I learned to laugh at myself. I learned to let go of the desire to reinvent myself - to relax and just be still - to slow down and realize that there's no need to hurry. I learned to love my home and know that it will still be there for me no matter how far away I travel or how long I am away. I learned to see my fears as adventures and receive love from my friends and family.

I've learned that sometimes in life, your heart gets broken, but that often times, this very process sets you free. Even if it's not what wanted, it's important to see it for what it is: emancipation. Maybe if things never changed you would have been happy still, perhaps you're sure of that, even. That's me. But I know I wouldn't have taken a chance on all the adventures that 2008 held if things never changed. I might be happy, but I would certainly be a different, more boring person. So good comes from circumstances that seem like the end of the world to us. I suppose that's just the kind of God we serve.