heidikins.com

Wrapping up 2012

Now that 2013 is well on its way, I thought I should recap 2012 before it is completely passé. 2012 was great in many ways, but also indescribably difficult. Here’s the run-down.

In January, J-Mo and I got married. It was lovely, low-key, and absolutely perfect. A hundred years a few months later we finally started living together full time. Our first year of marriage hasn’t really been anything either of us had expected, but we have grown together in so many ways. I am thrilled to have J-Mo on my team, and also love that I am the VIP on Team J-Mo.

In February I turned 29 with no pomp and no circumstance. In a few weeks I’ll be thirty and have no qualms about that either. Shrug. It’s just a number, whatever.

In 2011 I traveled. A lot. 2012 had considerably less time out of town. J-Mo and I went to the booksale in February, stopping at Navajo Bridge on our way down to Phoenix. In March we took a last minute trip to J-Mo’s hometown to attend a tragically sad double funeral. It was a short trip, but we did take a few long drives so I could see where J-Mo grew up and spent some time on his family’s farm. It was a rough weekend, and the getting there and back was, by far, the worst of it.

In May J-Mo and I went to Canyonlands National Park and I fell in-love with Utah’s red rock country all over again. Not long after that I took J-Mo to the big city, New York, and he loved it. And I LOVE that he loves it. We went to Broadway, we walked all over the city looking at buildings and architecture, we hung out in park after park and met up some really amazing friends. Over the summer J-Mo and I spent some time with his family in Montana, although I didn’t write about it, or really take any postable pictures of their lovely cabin, the lovely people, or the lovely time I had. A few months later J-Mo and I went to Mesa Verde National Park and Santa Fe, and I fell deeply in love with both places. I am already trying to fanangle a return trip to Santa Fe, it is just so swoony. There were a couple of more trips to Phoenix throughout the year, J-Mo and I both have family there. I’m not entirely sure how much more I will be able to get out of town this year, but I really hope for a few more “far, far away” adventures.

I read 62 books last year! I also organized a book club with a triple (quadruple?) handful of friends that has been one of the highlights of my year. The best books I read last year are, in no particular order: 1491: Revelations of the America’s Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann, A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar, My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing To Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, and Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.

I didn’t have any major medial issues, just carryover of stuff from last year. I am happy to report that I have been cleared by my doc although am still on the watch list.

I fell in love with J-Mo again and again this year, I just cannot imagine anyone better suited for me. He’s not perfect, but I don’t see his flaws. I just see this incredibly open man who encourages my best self, allows me to be a real woman and doesn’t freak out about, well, anything. He’s swoony. (Have I said that before?)

I didn’t lose weight this year, I didn’t even really think about it.

Aside from a few internet friends, no one particularly close to me gave birth, although several dear friends got married, so perhaps babies aren’t too far off…you know, sometime in the next 5 years. (wink)

In last year’s wrap-up post I wrote: “I did not attend a funeral, although my grandfather is getting more and more frail. I don’t know if I will be so lucky for 2012.” I attended six funerals last year. Six. J-Mo’s grandmother passed away in January, and a co-worker of mine in February lost his battle to cancer. In March J-Mo and I had the heart-wrenching experience of attending a double funeral in his hometown for a father and young son, I don’t think I will ever be the same. In April my across-the-street neighbor from my hometown passed away, followed by my grandfather in June. Are you exhausted by that list? I am. The first six months of 2012 left my heart completely battered.

For the first time this year I shared money and a bank account with a boy. J-Mo and I set a budget, mostly stuck to it, and managed to figure it, at least a little bit, how this whole thing goes.

Last year I lamented my lack of pleasure reading and spending too much time on Facebook. I quadrupled my pleasure reading in 2012 and severely cut back in my online social networking. Coincidentally, I am happier with how I spend my time than I ever have been, I doubt this is a coincidence.

My DVR has been filled with Bones, Big Bang Theory, Project Runway (although I’m almost over the drama), Gossip Girl (I know…don’t judge), NCIS, and Downton Abbey.

Last year my biggest achievement was a pretty clear “College Graduate!!” This year I didn’t have any major life milestones like that (and I don’t consider getting married an achievement, staying married, perhaps, but not getting married), however, I did haul myself up a nearly 12-thousand foot mountain. It took all damn day and another week before I could walk without cringing, but J-Mo and I made it to the summit of Mt. Timpanogos. Now, lots of people hike Timp, hundreds of thousands a year, in fact. But this is the most physically strenuous thing I have done since my car accident several years ago, and I am still baffled and thrilled that I made it all the way up–and then back down–that enormous mountain.

My biggest failure is a lack of grace. Life has thrown a lot of nasty situations my way this year, and some I handled with aplomb, and others…well, others, not so much. Hopefully I can learn a little more about grace (particularly under pressure) this year.

This year I was most thrilled and delighted by J-Mo, his behavior is head and shoulders above anyone I’ve ever met. I know you are all gagging a little bit right now, but with the year we have had-most of which has yet to be blogged–he has been so even-keeled and constant. He’s my rock, he grounds me, and I absolutely adore him.

Unfortunately, not everyone is like J-Mo. There have been two women whose behavior has been not only shocking, but appalling and downright heinous. One a former colleague and another the antagonist of Thing 1. Hopefully 2013 will bring less interaction with both of these people, and maybe–just maybe–will bring a little more logic, maturity, and farsightedness to both of those individuals. And more grace for me to handle the inevitable blow-ups when that doesn’t happen.

The only real date that sticks out from 2012 is Friday, January 20, when J-Mo and said “I do” in front of all our family and friends.

My New Year’s Resolutions for 2012 were, surprisingly, mostly hit! I will recap in a few weeks and new ones will be made–per tradition–for Chinese New Year.

Life lessons in 2012:

1. You can’t fight with crazy.
2. In the end, rationale and logic and keeping your cool will pay off. Also? Keep meticulous records.
3. Having J-Mo on my team makes me think we can do just about anything, together.

Here’s to 2013.

6 Comments so far
Leave a comment