It's mid-March and I haven't posted a word to this space in 2017. So I figured I'd start with my annual year in review entry, even though it's 2.5 months overdue.
January
Since this was more than a year ago I'm struggling a little to remember. I know it was cold AF in Flagstaff and I know we got at least one MHC snow day, which was AWESOME. In January I also finally bit the bullet and bought plane tickets to Seattle! This month Jerbs and I started talking seriously about moving to the PNW. Also, the X Files returned for a little mini run of new episodes, which I was suuuuuper excited for, and which was ultimately very disappointing. I remember that Jenny got sick in January and got her first ever prescription medication, so . . . I guess that was a milestone for her. I also had a good review at work this month, even though I didn't get the raise I wanted.
February
I turned 31! My 31st birthday was pretty freaking great. I got to spend it with Jerbs and felt very loved by my family, friends, and co-workers, which is always nice. Plus I ate a Brewer's Platter, and any day that involves that is a good day. At work, I got a better raise and, as the hospital deal talk ramped up, I found that I would potentially get to keep my job when I moved. That was seriously one of the best things to happen to me last year, and I feel so fortunate to have MHC in my life. It was a leap year so we had a February 29th and sadly, I didn't have any yellow and blue clothing that fit to wear in honor of the day.
March
In March, the hospital board voted to officially go through with the deal with MHC, and I can't even describe the weight lifted off my shoulders when I really knew I wouldn't have to find a new job in WA. This month we celebrated Max and Hollie's adoption anniversaries--3 years and 2 years, respectively. My car hit 100,000 miles and we discovered Brandy's for brunch. I honestly don't remember much else happening that month . . . probably lots of just planning for the move and bitching about our next door neighbor. I do remember that at the end of the month, one of my former MHC co-workers, who's still very much a part of the MHC family, suffered a very terrible family loss that absolutely broke my heart.
April
Based on scrolling through my Facebook and the pictures on my phone, April was a pretty uneventful month. I worked out once or twice and took pictures of my pets and worked my two jobs. We had nice weather in Flagstaff though!
May
In May the hospital merge became official, and my work family grew a whoooole lot right at the beginning of the month. It was stressful, overwhelming, exhausting, and AMAZING. I am so unbelievably proud of my work family. Also in May I found out that my sorority chapter's charter at NAU was being pulled, effectively ending the existence of TBS at NAU. Theresa came to town and we went to an outgoing sisterhood ceremony, which was really a lovely experience that I'm grateful for. Also in May, Jerbs and I went to see Alton Brown's live show, which was really weird and random but also really, really awesome! (So awesome that we're going to see it again next week in Portland, ha). And of course, the big event in May was our trip to Seattle, which was both fun and terrible, because while Seattle was and is awesome, I was so effing sick the entire time. However, even though I wish I'd been well enough to enjoy it, I'm really glad we went.
June
The first thing I remember about June is the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. I can't even begin to put into words the horror and heartbreak I felt seeing the news about that break. It is such a terrible, sickening thing, and that it was even possible for it to happen just . . . I don't know. I lost a lot of faith in humanity that day and I'd be lying if I said I was fine now. But the night after the shooting was the Tony awards, and the show of compassion and honoring the victims there was very moving. I also discovered Hamilton, the musical, and seriously listened to nothing else for the next 2 months.
July
July was a fun month. Jerbs and I spent a quiet Independence Day at home and watched the fireworks from our porch, as usual; it felt a little reflective because it was our last one in Flagstaff, and I thought about that a lot. Also in July, a bunch of TBS alumni came to town for a sisterhood ceremony/camp out deal, which meant I got to see Theresa and Jenna, plus some other sisters I hadn't seen for years. It was amazing to see everyone, and even though it was sad that it was because of the charter being pulled, I'm so, so, so glad it happened. I will be the first to admit that I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people, so on the rare occasion I get to be social with old friends, it's wonderful. The weekend after the campout I went to Vegas with Theresa and her in laws and had a freaking BLAST. I seriously have such a great time with them, hands down one of the best weekends of the whole year. While we were there, one of Theresa and Jenna's good friends from SLC (who I met at their wedding and became fast friends with) was randomly there too, so we got to meet up and hang out with him. It was awesome and well worth the long drive.
August
We packed and moved stuff to storage and I realized that nothing was going to happen as planned with the move and more or less flipped out. My dad and Jillian came to visit as well, so that was nice. I had my last day at SHF. What I'll always remember most about August of 2016, though, was that a deep, horrible, and completely unexpected tragedy hit my MHC family right at its core. I cried for days while I tried to get things together for the move, I broke down to my mom over the phone, I leaned on my co-workers and let them lean on me. I still don't feel fully recovered from what happened. MHC still doesn't either. It's one of those things that causes an irreversible change: we're flourishing as a clinic but we'll never, ever be quite the same as we were before this happened. I will never forget parking my car, thinking about nothing other than how happy I was it was Friday and how my dad and sister would be there that afternoon, then being met before I even went inside by a co-worker so I could be given the bad news before I saw anybody else. Walking through the halls to my office that day, my co-workers just looked like how I felt: drained, shocked, pale. It was truly a haunting experience. For reasons, I'm not going into more detail than that. On the last day of August we moved out of our apartment. On the day we were moving out, Theresa called to let me know that something had happened and TBS' charter pull was not happening after all, and basically our sorority gets to continue existing as if nothing ever happened. I honestly still don't know exactly what went down, I know there was some kind of drama with the DOB and ADOB, but that's the extent of it. Still, I'm happy to know that Alpha Chi gets to go on.
September
This is the month Jerbs and I moved to Washington. I still don't want to talk about what a terrible experience that was so I'm not going to. Other than moving into our apartment, this was the month I started working from home, which is super weird but also really nice. Jerbs mostly job hunted this month, so I got to explore our new city by driving her to interviews and then finding nearby coffee places with free WiFi where I could work from my laptop. Oh, I bought a new laptop this month, which was very exciting! Also this month, Jerbs found out that her cousin (who she grew up with and is more like a sibling) was pregnant. The weather was crazy nice here so we did a little bit of outdoor exploring around town, mostly just walking the dogs at parks and stuff.
October
Jerbs found a job this month, which was a huge relief to us both! (Long, long story as to why she didn't have a job before we got here, but that's part of the whole moving related trauma so I'm not going to write about it). She's working in medical billing (woohoo!) doing basically what I used to do at MHC. I'm really proud of her, and she seemed to really like her job/co-workers right off the bat. One of our best friends from college had a beautiful baby girl last October, and we were both super thrilled about that! We're both SO excited to eventually meet her. This month we went to Portland to see Game Grumps Live, and that was AWESOME! We had SO much fun at the show! That same weekend we had a huge storm, so downtown Portland was basically a river (we most definitely walked through water that went over the top of my boots at one point . . . Jerbs was wearing cons so she was pretty unhappy). Regardless of how wet we got, it was totally worth it, and I've been a Grumps fan ever since.
November
What I remember most about November is the fucking election. Needless to say I was disappointed in the results, and I've been steadily more disappointed in what's going on. My sweet little nephew turned 8, which makes me feel suuuuper old. I experienced having to change the clocks for Daylight Savings Time for the first time, which was trippy. The first day after the change, it was so dark at 5 PM when I went to pick up Jerbs at work that I actually had to turn on my headlights, so that was weird. Jerbs and I spent Thanksgiving at home and this year we actually cooked our own turkey and sides instead of buying the precooked ones, I was proud of us and our dinner turned out really well! The best part of this Thanksgiving was that since Jerbs is now in a medical field that isn't urgent care, she had the same days off as me (Thurs., Fri., Sat., and Sun.) so we got a long weekend together. This month, after Thanksgiving, I pretty much stopped eating fast food and started cooking for myself!
December
We went to Jerbs' work Christmas party, which was fun. It was at a nice restaurant on a golf course and the food was really good. Jerbs got us an electric griddle through this little silent auction they do so that was cool, we've used it quite a bit since then. It is seriously GIGANTIC though, so it's hard to store. This month I cooked a lot and got more used to that. I also made us new Christmas stockings and a garland and stuff, our place looked super cute for the holidays. The worst part of this month was that we didn't get to go home for Christmas. I was really sad about that, because I've only ever spent one Christmas away from my family (when I was engaged and we spent Christmas with his family), and it was hard. So I know that I need to plan better for 2017 so I can be home for Christmas. We went to Seattle on Christmas Eve for Jerb's birthday; we went to Pike's market and a Harry Potter themed gingerbread house exhibit at a hotel in downtown Seattle (apparently the gingerbread houses are an annual thing, and there's a different theme each year, so we'll be going again in 2017). Then on Christmas day we made ham and stuff, and exchanged a few gifts, and mostly it was just another day. For NYE, we went to a ramen place in downtown Olympia that was really tasty, then came home and just watched a movie. It was very low key and uneventful.
And that's it. All in all . . . not really the best year, mostly a mediocre one with some shining moments. I'm hoping 2017 is leaps and bounds better, and I'm hoping to blog more going forward. I used to love this little space so much, and now it's so neglected!
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