I’ve never really been big on birthdays; or New Years for that matter. I understand why it’s important and symbolic for some people, it just never had been for me.
That all changed the year I was 24.
I had easily experienced the worst and most tragic year of my life. Fresh off a deep heart-break not a week old when I turned 24, it started bad and what I then thought impossible, only got worse.
Those closet to me know the tragedies I experienced. Maybe they would have been easier to weather had I been more open with more people, but in the end, what I experienced at 24 was something I had to go through, learn and experience for myself and with my immediate family. And for the first time in my life I learned to not depend on other people to get me through the day.
That’s a sad statement. One I’m not sure I’m proud to make. I take little pride in “doing it by myself,” but that said, it was needed, and a right of passage that had to take place. I now know that I can, should the worst come to pass, get through it on my own.
Lets hope I never have to face trials as upsetting alone again, and with strides I made this last year, I believe it can be a reality. Probably as a direct result of the heart-break that started year 24, I end it with more friendships than I’d ever had.
As I learned to fend for myself, I also learned how to breakout of a protective shell that had kept me isolated since birth. Fragments of that shell still exist. Nobody said finding yourself was easy. Maybe I’m late to the party, but I know of many who reach middle-age never getting there.
Some of the highlights: I took a risk, and joined a campaign as a senior member of the staff, taking on huge amounts of responsibility, and getting less sleep than I’d ever had. I want to thank Rick for taking such a huge chance on me. Aaron, Demic and Betsy for being the best co-workers anyone could ask for, and Kathy for being so accommodating of our demands of her husband and family.
Finally picking up and moving away from Eugene after years of saying I’d get to it. I may have only ventured 60 miles North, and visited home nearly every weekend, but it was a step that was a long-time coming.
Living with two of the greatest people on Earth, Matt and Joanie, observing a young married couple and finding my faith again in the possibilities of love. You two will have a front seat at my wedding, whenever it is and with whomever it’s with, because of you, I have hope again.
It’s midnight now, according to my legal documents I’m now 25. Biologically, 25 doesn’t occur until 10:13 tonight, but legally is good enough for me, so with that, I bid farewell to 24.
Here’s to 25 being the best year of my life!