My Year in Review

I spent New Year's Eve in the cafeteria of the hospital.  No worries friends, I am healthy.  I have a dear friend who is struggling with serious health issues.  We played games on my new iPad (thank you Santa!), ate assorted snacks from the cafeteria and laughed until our sides ached.  As we sat there, we discussed the ups and downs the last year has brought for all of us.  I would like to review my year with you- not much turned out how I expected it to, but that's okay.

I started out 2012, determined that I was going to go back to school and get a PhD.  I had nailed the GRE (and when I say nailed, I mean I got scores that were better than the average scores for every single Ivy League school), had selected the schools, applications were in, along with stellar letters of recommendation.  I had contacted professors at the schools and discussed ideas for research.  I had contacts in all the cities where I applied and was looking at where I'd want to live and whatnot.

Then, I didn't get in to either school.  Dang.  There's no real rhyme or reason to why, I wasn't given an answer, but apparently there were other things in store for me.

One of those other things, as it has been for the past 4 years, was Camp Hobe.  I'm crossing my fingers that I'll still be able to do it this year, but it has served as a highlight and did much to rejuvinate my deflated soul. (In case you can't tell, I was very put out that I didn't get into a PhD program.)

Then, driving home one weekend in July, I received a phone call asking me to serve in the presidency of the Young Women's organization at my church.  I figured that perhaps that was one of the reasons I needed to stay here in CV and gladly accepted.  As I sat in church that weekend, I said "Okay Lord, I've been trying to get out of here for at least two years, but if this is where you want me to stay, then I will."

Not even two weeks later, I received a phone call asking me to fly to Washington DC and interview for a job.  That turned into a great time (I recapped a bunch of this in this post).

Then within a two week span, my grandfather passed away, I helped with a major bike race, had a big conference for work, and was offered (and subsequently declined) the DC job.  I'm pretty sure my brain came perilously close to exploding at that point.

Intermingled with all of this, someone I regard as pretty amazing came back into my life and wormed his way back into my heart and even when I'm not around him, things keep "happening" to keep him on the forefront of my mind.  Little things like the song that pops up on iTunes when I set it to shuffle or an article in a magazine that focuses on the very things he and I discuss when we're together or a song in a movie that makes people who don't even know him think of him and me.  He's the bee's knees.

I don't know how my story with him will end.  But I know he's back in my life for a reason and maybe that's why I needed to stay here in CV. 

So, while I have goals and plans for 2013, I'm also trying to listen to what life is trying to tell and teach me.  I'm still looking for opportunities to grow and change and serve.  I'm trying to open myself up to inspiration more and to be a kinder, more understanding person.