And We Begin Again

If you had asked me on January 1, 2009, "Where will you be at this time next year?", I might have replied, "I'll be back in Portland, after living in Brisbane for a year" or maybe I would have claimed, "Oh, I'll most likely be living in Baltimore, a quick plane ride away from family and childhood friends" or maybe, just maybe, I would have told you, "I'll still be living overseas, travelling, exploring..." I cannot say for certain what my answer would have been, but I can tell you today, January 1, 2010, I have no idea where I will be on January 1, 2011.

On January 1, 2009 I spent my New Year's Day morning with some of my best friends, in a greasy, delicious dive in Hanson, Massachusetts. We laughed over bottomless mugs of semi-decent drip coffee. We gorged ourselves on bacon and orgasmic blueberry, cream-cheese pancakes. (Seriously, I think someone might have climaxed at the breakfast table.) We stumbled back to our vehicles, said our goodbyes and embarked on 2009.

I woke up alone this morning, after working until 11PM last night, New Year's Eve. I would not have told you a year ago that was how I would spend my New Year's Eve 2009. It's been a very...full year, to say the least.

When I think about it, I suppose 2009 was not much different from other years past. I spent time with family and good friends, I learned more about those who would become good friends and I met new people from around the world, who I am sure I will keep in touch with for years to come. There was birth and there was also death. There were moments of laughter, hysterics even. And tears and frustration. We moved, twice, which might be an all-time low record for Conor and me. I spent time in four different countries and almost twenty different cities. I started a new job, a challenging, and most days, rewarding, new job. I woke up every morning for almost ten months without my favourite companion's snout on my pillow. I didn't eat meat for half of the year. One of my best friends got married. I climbed mountains in New York, skated on a frozen pond in New Brunswick, snorkelled in the Great Barrier Reef and kayaked through New Zealand's Milford Sound. I spent eleven months with my favourite person in the entire world. All in all, it was an ordinarily extraordinary year.

What will 2010 bring? I have no idea. More moving, I'm willing to bet. Also, much more laughter. Hopefully there will be a few less tears, and many more mornings with a snout on my pillow. Yes, I wish I had woken up with friends this morning and consumed enough coffee to make my hands shake, but I wouldn't trade the last year for a similar New Year's Day. 2010, here we come! Here's hoping for more extraordinary.