A year in review.

this is where i leave you quote

This is Where I Leave You is one of our favorite movies, and a rare circumstance in which I actually have not read the original book. I cried through a decent portion of our most recent viewing; I realize that doesn’t read like the most enthusiastic endorsement of a film, but it reached me in a way that it hadn’t in the past. And a movie’s ability to do that should be applauded, I think.

So, 2018 has mere hours left, and that’s prompted the expected level of reflection. I realized I have a terrible habit of classifying years. Like, a “bad year,” a “challenging year,” a “good year.” What is that? Why is that?

Because it makes it simpler, is my first guess. But life isn’t simple, and I’d hate to do its intricacy such in an injustice. I’ll stop that. 2018 held many wonderful things, some challenging things, and some terrible things. I could search for reasons for them forever, but outside of understanding cause and effect, what good does that do? I think that’s where a lot of us get hung up, in trying to find reasons, justifications. For some things, there is no satisfactory explanation.

I can’t believe this was six months ago! It feels like yesterday and a hundred years, all at once.

In that short (long?) time, we’ve packed in so many memories. I like to think this old house is smiling at how it’s helped us, and how we’ve helped it. Our friends and family helped me turn 31 (30-ish!); we hosted 14 family members for Thanksgiving; we adopted a second dog; we woke up on Christmas morning and sipped coffee in our PJs. Did I ever imagine we’d be here? Not exactly. But I’m so glad we are.

Here’s a collage – a little “Best Of” for you.