2011 : Mini Time Capsule

When December rolls around, and people start thinking about the start of the new year, we usually can't help but reflect on the year we will be leaving behind.

Personally I had mixed feelings about the whole thing, and I suspect that I am not alone in that. Great things came in 2011, some disappointment, but if nothing else, it was a year of progress.

At the beginning, January of 2011, I began the last year of my 20's, something I think most people dread. But like my mom would say, getting older beats the alternative...

The end of the month led to an argument with one of my oldest friends, February brought a trip to Philly, in March I got my first massage when we took my mom on a spa weekend for her 60th birthday, April I went to Kentucky and tasted the amazing deep fried Oreo, in May I began vacation preparation, dieting and shopping, June brought to a close my cohabitation with Julie and Jess- a good and bad decision, July - had some fun in the sun in Mexico, which left a little something to be desired - August I won't speak of, it lead to one of those disappointments, yet while irritating still informative , in September headed to New Orleans and started my new job, which again was a mixed bag, but fun over all, in October we saw the effect of ending our Halloween tradition, but I avoided the drunk texts that go along with it ( I managed the same on NYE) November brought Mack into our lives, and December, well, it's nice to spend the holidays with family, baking cookies, spreading good cheer, just simply being nicer, and well it helped that it was the most mild  December I can recall.

So I can't really complain. When I look at it, I definitely see more positive. Yet hope remains with each New Year that the next will be even better, that it is actually a fresh start. But the past doesn't magically go away, and time doesn't stop. My mixed emotion about the end of 2011 comes mostly from the fact that it means I am getting older. I have less than 20 days now until I reach 30. And, well, that's no fun.  And it seems as I get older, the faster time moves and the more I say "Where did this year go?" I hope with 2012 I can slow it down. Find a way to take each day at a time and savor it, remember more, appreciate more, make more memories, take more control over what I write about next January.

2011 taught me a lot, it sometimes takes others to point that out to me, while I may not be exactly where I want to be, I have taken steps, I have made changes in order to get there.  I remember reading on some poster on the wall of a grammar school, cheesy I know, but it said:  "It's about the journey, not the destination".

I'm going to make it my goal this year, to keep that in mind, in all that I do. With any failure, with any success, a sadness or  joy, there is something to learn, a part of us changes, bringing us closer to the people we are meant to be.  So here's to 2012 being one amazing leg of my journey.