2009 in Review

Summary of what 2009 has taught me

Rather than tell the events that happened all year, instead I'm writing what I learned from the events that happened in each month this year.

January

I learned how much I love cutting hair. It was my first semester on the lab floor and I love it. In high school I always wanted to be a psychiatrist but I'm glad I decided to fix what's on the head rather than what is in it.

February

Dictionary.com's definition of family: any group of persons closely related by blood. My definition of family: the ones you love to be surround by. The people who, no matter what, will love you for who you are.

March

I realized money can't make you happy. Growing up, our family never had lots of money, but I don't look back at my childhood as being deprived just because we never had the biggest and best. We had what mattered. We had a good, strong, loving, happy family. We always had fun, regardless.

What doesn't kill you life, can only make you stronger. But only if you let yourself build and grow from your mistakes. Otherwise, what is the point of mistakes if you can't learn from it, then get back up again and allow yourself to grow... You can't let life or yourself get you down.

April

Four hundred years ago, an English guy had an opinion on being alone, John Donne. He thought we were never alone. Of course, it was fancier when he said it. "No man is an island entire onto himself." Boil that island talk down and it just means that all anyone needs is someone to step in and let us know we're not alone. And who's to say that someone can't have four legs and lick my face every time they sees me. Someone to play with, or take on walks, or just hang out.

May

Although moving away from home is very liberating and made me feel very grown up… I will always miss home. I realized when I moved out how much I love being home. That’s something I wouldn’t have learned had I not moved out.

June

Saying goodbye to people you love is the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced. There’s a constant hole in your heart that, no matter how hard everyone tries, just can’t be filled. I’ve only experienced this feeling twice in my life, thank goodness. It truly is a feeling words cannot describe. And although this feeling sucks and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone, it helps you realize how much you love a person and how grateful you are for them. I wish it didn’t take leaving for me to realize how much I need someone in my life… But sometimes you have to be apart from the one you love. Doesn’t mean you love them less. And sometimes, it even makes you love them more.

July

July was a month for learning and changing. I learned that it’s okay to be alone. I learned more about myself in the month of July than I have my entire life. Being alone isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes it can be a really good thing.

The most important thing I learned in July: Aly Cook was NOT meant to be blonde. Ew.

July taught me that no matter how hard we try to ignore or deny the truth, the lies fall away. Here’s the truth about the truth… it hurts.

Why is it the ones who hurt us the most are the ones who love us most? And the ones we hurt most are the ones we love most? That's just the way it is. It sucks. And I didn't learn this next part until a few months later, but we can more easily forgive the ones we love. Those who love you will forgive you no matter what. This is actually something I learned throughout the whole year, not jsut in July...

August

Moving in with your 2 best friends can be the most fun thing ever and the most tiring thing ever! Only because I don’t think I slept the whole month of August and September. We would stay up all night talking and laughing. If you’re moving in with your best friends, don’t anticipate getting much sleep!

September

I would love to be an astronomer. It takes too much math for my brain, I know that, but there's always been something about charting stars that appeals to me. On a really dark night, you can see between 1,000 and 1,500 stars, and there are millions more that haven't even been discovered. It's so easy to think that the world revolves around you, but all you have to do is stare up at the sky to realize it isn't that way at all.

Everyone deserves to go on a cruise. Definitely the most relaxing, fun and exciting week! Best part of my cruise? Karaoke at the end of every night. Completely hilarious and so entertaining to watch drunk people make complete idiots of themselves. Karaoke night always made me feel a little bit better about myself. Next best part of my cruise? Dressing up and getting up on stage as Cyndi Lauper. Maybe someday I’ll post that video on here as my most embarrassing/fun moment ever. Probably not though. So the most important thing I learned in September is that I love cruising. We are already planning our next one. Cannot wait!

October

I love kids..they're the closest thing you can find to perfection in this crazy world. I hope to have lots someday and be a good mom and raise them the way I was raised. It scares me though to think that I will someday raise children in the world. I hope and pray I raise them right. My biggest fear is that I won't

This is when I learned that as crappy as it is to be hurt by the ones you love, it doesn’t even take a second’s thought to forgive them, no matter how much you would like to be mad at them, you can’t. You just love them too much.

November

Being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating the small victories. Admiring the struggle it takes simply to be human. Maybe we are thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe we're thankful for the things we will never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing and fighting is reason enough to celebrate.

December

Who gets to determine when the old ends and the new begins? It’s not on the calendar, it’s not a birthday, it isn’t a new year. It’s an event, big or small, something that changes us. Ideally, that gives us hope, a new way of living and looking at the world, a way of letting go of old habits, old memories. What's important is that we never stop believing we can have a new beginning, but it's also important to remember that, amid all the crap, there are things worth holding on to.

Life has been good these passed 12 months. I've changed a LOT, I've had hard times and I've had great times, and, of course, made a lot of mistakes, but it wouldn't be life if I didn't. I’ve learned lots from the great times, but even more from the hard times.