Years that mattered

Sometimes, a year comes along, and you just want to hug and squeeze it, and never let it go.  You want to cherish and remember it with fondness.  You know that no matter what the future will bring, you will always be able to look back on that year with joy, and with fondness.  Those years that give you that small, private smile, shaking your head about "that one time".

In 2004, I really started to learn who Kristen was.  I started coming into my own, and made some truly lasting friendships.

In 2007 I graduated from college, traveled to China, and moved back to Colorado, where I got my first grown-up apartment and grown-up full-time job.

 

2009.  Laid out by a lot of pools.  Had some of the best hair of my life.  Took a lot of chances, some that worked, some that didn't.  Made a big move 45 minutes North, thinking it was for one boy, only to find out that life had a very different man waiting at the end of that year.

2013.  I don't know what I think of this year just yet.  For sure there were some peaks to this year, astronomical peaks that I never thought I could possibly aspire to.  I married a man who fulfills my soul.  I mean... hello.  However, we experienced so much pain, hardship, hurt, and sadness along the way, that the year as a whole looks more like the face of an angry, acne-scarred pro-activ advertisement than it does like the face of love.  Yet... something about this year draws me in.  Maybe we needed the pain and the sadness in order to appreciate all of the magic that was created this year. 

Maybe we will continue down our journey, turn back to look with our hands clasped tight, and whisper, "that was a beautiful chapter indeed.  Yes, even with all of the discordant notes, we love that movement of the symphony of our lives." 

 

This post didn't do what I thought it would do.  However, as with life, sometimes that's the best possible outcome.