An Unexpected Journey

Isn’t it funny how the past, once it is behind us, looks so very rosy? It’s crazy how events that came before tend to be remembered like a fleeting dream, destined to be seen in a stream of exuberant flashes. For me, 2012 is that dream.

Though over, I will remember 2012 quite fondly. It was chalk full of new beginnings and big decisions, of fun adventures and comfort breaking risks. It was, and will remain in its’ last gasps, a jumbled ball of arduous joy encircled by a rings of endless change, oh so much change.

As I ponder my rose-covered daydream, it becomes obvious what my theme was: changed. 2012 was easily the year of change, some expected and some not. Many of the changes were expected, including the biggie of moving to Boston for graduate school, yet they still held great surprise. Traveling through Italy in the spring, getting used to using a metro again, having siblings get engaged, being a student again and owning my first cat were certainly not “oh wow” moments but that doesn’t diminish the impact of each one.

And yet it is the unexpected that can really change things, at the forefront of which is running a full marathon. I do not readily enjoy running but I do enjoy new things so when the opportunity to accomplish this task presented itself, the obvious answer was yes. Now that my first, and most certainly my last, marathon is completed, it seems as impossible as it did at the start.

So much of what happens in life is random and unknown and quite often terrifying but worth trying. To embrace change, it is necessary to be able to continually burst out of your comfort zones. It is hard to do but it is also what gives life spice. The most unexpected journeys can often be difficult but the tougher the obstacle, the bigger the reward. 2012 was that reward and I’ll try my best to hold on to the memories I have as I move into a new year.

2013 certainly has a lot to live up to but, given my settled-in-Boston situation, the theme is a new one, health. Physical. Mental. Spiritual. All of it. Here we go!!!