A Good Year

For the past day or so, I have been contemplating the close of 2008. It seems to me that every year, everyone is saying "Oh, thank God this year is over...let's hope this next one is better." I have also had a lot of bad years in my life, but I cannot count this year among them. 2008 brought with it many changes, the bulk of which were positive.

One change that has come is a completely new set of friends. I lived with 2 girls at the start of the year that I never really took the time to know, and once I did, they quickly became my best friends in Winona. Then starting in the summer, I lost the other "good" friends I had in Winona. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to make new friends, which is almost always a positive experience.

I also made an employment change this year. Having worked at the bridal shop in a job that I hated most days, I leapt at the opportunity for an internship at Mayo Clinic for the summer. This incredibly valuable experience ended up costing me my bridal job, but as the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. In this case, the lining turned out to be wonderful, new employment with WSU tutoring services, which I absolutely love.

I had one more great change happen to me, just at the beginning of December. After 7 months of applying and interviewing and waiting, I was admitted into dental school at Southern Illinois. I wont say anymore about that because there is a previous post about it.

Some other wonderful things that happened weren't changes at all, but old situations that just improved themselves. One of these was my relationship with Eric. We have been together over 18 months now, and even though people call us Grandma and Grandpa all the time, I am very happy with the steadiness and comfort of our relationship. It will be hard indeed to leave him behind in Winona next fall when I move to Alton, but I will take comfort in the fact that he will join me after his graduation next December.

So, when the clock counts down to midnight tonight, I will not be hoping for a better year, only one that's just as good.