Probably the biggest value of a blog or a journal is the actually act of writing and sharing and then having it recorded for later remembering. So here’s my 2009 highlights:
- Birthdays: My friends and I decided this year to celebrate each of our birthdays by enjoying a meal of our choice and then the birthday person got to choose their favorite movie and we all watched it together (also, the non-birthday people were not allowed to complain about the movie choice). It made for a very fun year of birthday outings, even though there were some awful choices.
- Weddings: I was invited to 12 weddings this year, I didn’t go to all of them, only went to 5 of them. The people that got married included: someone I’ve know for all of their life, my old college roommate, one of my best friends from college, a friend that I have traveled the world with, and my younger brother. Most of these weddings were emotional for me. I have trouble with change and letting people go. It’s been a year of growth in that aspect for me and involved a lot of changes, but it’s about damn time I become okay with change, so I’m happy for the experiences.
- Beachy Goodness: I have been lucky enough to go to the same beach with several of my close college friends for the past six years. One of our favorite pastimes is kayaking in the ocean. The first year we did this me and my partner flipped twice…before we even got into waist-deep water and then once when we were coming in. It makes for a good story and kayaking out on the ocean is an amazing experience!
This year at the beach, I also got to experience watching a storm roll in on the ocean. This was both amazing and breathtaking, with lightning that spread out on the water like silly string in the hands of a nine-year-old at a birthday party. At some points the light was as bright as midday, the sound shook my heart, and the wind made me feel like I was standing on the bow of a boat and screaming “I’m king of the world!”. I tried to capture the lightning on my camera. I learn a lesson that day that can be applied to most things, the most memorable, fantastic moments in life cannot be capture except in our memories.
- I’m a Triathlete, and I have a t-shirt to prove it!: This picture is after we completed our relay triathlon, and that is my friend Kathleen, who is borderline crazy. She’s a full-time med student who does triathlons on her breaks for kicks and giggles, and somehow she convinced me to do a relay one with her. I’ll probably always be grateful to her for that, but I sure wasn’t before, during, and even afterwards. My favorite thing about this picture is how incredibly miserable I look and how completely ecstatic Kathleen looks. I was miserable, hot, exhausted, and starving; and even though it took me a few days to get to the happy level of Kathleen, a few days later I was proudly wearing my Old Hickory Tri shirt!
- Travels: I did a small bit of traveling (very small…but enough to satiate me) to Chattanooga, Huntsville, Little Rock, and Colorado. I met some great people, made tighter bonds, and saw lots of new things.
The best thing about this past year has been self-discovery. I’ve gotten to know myself better and through that, I’ve made better friends and better choices. I’ve grown spiritually far beyond what I could have thought possible, been braver than I wanted, and embraced issues that I’d rather have left alone. I don’t know what will happen in 2010, but for the first time in nearly 26 years, I’m actually ready to embrace the changes that come!
Becca Kello 