Reflections Thus Far

I find myself daydreaming of 2016. What a fresh start the new year will bring. I know the new year will have its hurts and challenges and struggles all the same, but it also brings with it newness, beginning, and potential. I am choosing to focus on the latter right now.

I think this will be the first summer since 2010-ish that I will not have a wedding of a close friend or sibling. But I know of three babies due in the new year. Crazy how babies tend to follow weddings, no? Instead of getting married myself, I will keep scouring Pinterest for pictures of dogs and overly expensive handbags, thankyouverymuch, while also looking forward to snuggling those little babes and thinking of ways to spoil them without upsetting their parents too much.

But all this looking ahead to the future has me thinking about the past. I think part of what has made this last year so difficult is, for the first time, I finally feel like I am in "real life." In 2011, I was going through a transition every couple of months and had yet to settle in to anything. In 2015, I am in my fifth year of teaching, I have my own apartment with accompanying bills, and I eat sweet potato chips and hummus for supper if I want to. I am not in a honeymoon phase in life-- this is my life.

Life is broken and beautiful and messy and simple, but rarely is it ever one thing at a time. I have truly relished trying to make the most of this December and I have enjoyed it so much. I'm looking forward to seeing family at the end of the week although I can hardly wrap my mind around such. Contrary to my initial plans, I have not been back to the airport since I landed in July. But, like many things, I am really hoping to fix my lack of travel in this upcoming year. I'm currently investigating the likes of Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and maybe a touch of Europe as well.

I am also finding some life in my work again. Granted, I am at an easier point of the semester, but I am looking forward to beginning work again in January. This first semester simply flew by and I know I missed so many opportunities. I am hoping the spring semester will be much different and I will make the most of what I have left with my students before their exams and graduation.

Babies, traveling, and students-- all things that will make a wonderful 2016-- even when life is real!