Clearly, school took over my life and I was unable to continue my journal entries. So much has happened in the last 5 month that I want to talk about, but I'll leave it until next week. For now, I'm going to start with my review of 2011. The first, being part of the yearly journal I do. I'm not posting it all, but this is what I was able to pull from it that I wanted to post.
Marriage
The wedding finally happened this year, after
many years of planning. It was successful, and unforgettable. Although the
concept of marriage can be defined easily by most, it’s quite nice to make our
own set of rules in our relationship. According to most, we should have been
settling down and popping out a baby by now. I’m glad that we laid out a strong
foundation for our marriage over the last few years, and have no plans to let
anyone else influence it, and cause us to deviate from what we truly want. We’re
both happy, and things couldn’t be better. This year has strengthened my love
for him even more. I am so lucky to have him in my life.
Friendship
I learned many lessons this year, and
had a lot of unique experiences. The most important one was learning how
valuable friendship is. People take it for granted, and I sure did. It’s easy
to do. I’ve learned that you need to work at friendships, just like
relationships. People who are there for you no matter what, through the bad
times and the good are the ones to hold onto. They call you when they know
you’re upset, to make sure you’re okay and make you laugh. My friends, the ones
who did this and helped me this year will have my never ending gratitude. You
know who you are, and you should know what you mean to me. If you don’t – I love you. I’ll never be able
to tell you how much you mean to me, and how grateful I am for having you in my
life.
On the same note of friendship, this
year became a huge milestone in my friendship with someone who I’ve known for
over ten years. This was the year I got to meet Bram for the first time.
It was an experience that neither of
us will ever forget. It was, in the words of Bram “surreal”. I’ll never forget
that awkward few moments at the airport when I hid behind a tall pillar waiting
for him to emerge. It was a crazy, awesome moment that makes me laugh every
time I remember it. The photo above was taken less than 5 minutes after
meeting. Many believed it was crazy we
had never met before June, but we just never had the chance to. Our friendship is quite unexplainable, and
we’re both quite content with that. I
really got to understand the value of my friendship with him this year, and
appreciate it more than I’ll ever be able to explain to him. I was ecstatic that he attended, and was
involved in one of the most important events I’ll ever have. The week he was in
Toronto was one of the best of my life, and I don’t think either of us will
forget it or the memories we made during it.
So thank you Bram, for everything
you’ve done for me, and for putting up with my overdramatic, ridiculous, never
ending talking butt all these years! Thank you being one of my greatest
friends.
New Experiences
2011 brought a long awaited adventure
– I finally visited Bram in Europe. It was a spur of the moment decision that
came in June, and within days I was booked on a trip for two weeks with the
fabulous Jane. We anticipated it all
summer, and when we finally got there we weren’t let down. The two weeks flew
by, but we had the time of our lives. We met great new people, ate tons of
delicious food and had tons of new experiences. I learned more on that trip,
that I had in the last year and I couldn’t believe how opened my eyes became to
things. I think I also became closer with Jane, and I love her to pieces for
not only coming with me, but for being someone who listens to my garbage and
puts up with it more than anyone else. I love you darling.
The Future
I’m hoping in 2012 to mostly have new experiences, and to continue to grow into a future educator. The knowledge gained this year about being one, has helped me see things in a new light, and I can’t wait to put a lot of them into practice during my teaching experiences this year. I also cannot wait to visit Ireland in May with Deric, and hopefully visit Belgium again as well. I'll also be spending the holidays with my family and friends, and as always look forward to that. I hope 2012 will be a great year.
Coming up tomorrow: 2011 review with photos
