2007 Reflections

As the year comes to a close and we're just a few hours away from 2008, I thought I'd take a little while to reflect on the past year. Overall, I can say that it's been a much better year than 2006, in spite of a few troubles here and there.

The year started off as Michael and I had just arrived back in Seattle after my first trip to Alaska, and I spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home, getting ready for the start of winter quarter at school. Michael was at the Vogue for the last time before they closed their doors for good.

We jumped into a winter quarter that was a bit less hectic than the fall of 2006 had been (thank goodness!), and we've spent the year strengthening our relationship as well as working on ourselves as individuals. Michael has excelled in his studies and is about to graduate with his first college degree this spring (I'm so proud of him).

I spent much of the past year trying to decide what direction I want to take my career, and during many days of this search, I was frustrated and a little bit depressed. The biggest blow of the past year was being passed over for the directorship of the Loft, and it took all of my courage to continue in the job search after that slap to my confidence. However, I have the most amazing and supportive boyfriend in the world, and he told me that something better would come along. His faith in me kept me going when I wanted to crawl into my comfortable little hole at North and give up. And he was right--something much better did come along.

Some of the highlights of the past year:

March: We took a spring break trip to Long Beach, and I got to show Michael the fun little beach town where my dad spent all his summers while he was growing up, and where I spent many of my school vacations.

April: I taught huge load of classes for Career Link, including an art class and an English class in which I convinced my little gangstas and punks to not only read but also to enjoy Shakespeare.

June: Sixty-five of my Career Link kids earned GEDs and walked in the college graduation ceremony. I got the privilege of going on stage to introduce them.

Berta, Emily, and I met in Denver for the first ever Women Who Love Hanscom Men vacation.

August: Kevin and Emily announced Emily's second pregnancy, and we began eagerly awaiting the newest Hanscom.

Hope and Peter got married on the Big Island in Hawaii.

September: We were forced to move to a new apartment so they could do emergency repairs on our old apartment.

Berta and John visited Michael and I and got to see our cute (new) little apartment for the first time. They were our first visitors.

October: I went to Vancouver for Mom's birthday and spent a wonderful weekend with Mom, Kima, and Hope.

November: Mom visited us for my birthday, and Hope, Mom, and Michael made it into the best birthday I can remember in recent years.

Dad visited us for Thanksgiving.

December: One of my favorite Career Link kids finally earned his GED and thanked me for pushing him and encouraging him to work so hard. He's enrolled in the auto mechanics program at Shoreline Community College for winter quarter, and I have all sorts of confidence that he's beginning an excellent career. (He's just one of the several examples of student success stories from the past fall.)

I was hired by CWU to be the Des Moines campus writing consultant.

It was a full year, and for the most part an enjoyable year. There were a million little moments that didn't make my list of highlights, picnics and theater date-nights and movie nights and cuddles on the couch while watching snowflakes. We're building a lovely life for ourselves, and even with the struggles, I'm the happiest I think I've ever been in my life.

So, what will the new year hold for us? A new job for me, a new college degree for Michael, and a summer road trip for the two of us so that we can explore some more national parks, for sure. Beyond that, it's a blank slate right now. It's an adventure, one that I'm looking forward to with great anticipation.