Closing the Chapter
“Days are good, and
that’s the way it should be”
It seems like only yesterday I was getting
ready to usher in the year 2015. My soon-to-be husband and I drove out of his
apartment complex on New Years’ Eve in search of a decent restaurant. We hoped
our last meal of 2014 would be a good one. We headed to PF Changs first, but
the wait was out the door and the parking lot was full. We decided it was best
to just stumble upon somewhere to eat, hoping no one else had the same
idea. After driving around for twenty minutes in North Austin, we finally
found a restaurant with an open table and no wait at all. The Iron Cactus has
always been one of our favorite places to dine and being there seemed a fitting
end to a year in which we fell in love and got engaged. The hostess placed us
on a round booth against the wall where we could sit right next to each other.
The restaurant wasn’t filled, but there were plenty of other diners ushering in
the New Year Tex-Mex style.
Last year was our first New Years’ together. I
was bound and determined to not only stay up until the ball dropped in Time
Square (I am still living on Eastern time after all), but to get a kiss at the
stroke of midnight. Staying up did not happen, but I still got
my midnight smooch. I remember thinking how wonderful
2015 would be. It would be the year I got married. Little did I know what else
was in store.
I played plenty of tennis in 2015, but
“plenty” is definitely not enough. On the morning of March 21st, I
woke up around 5:00am after tossing and turning since 1:00am. It was the morning of my wedding and I was dedicated to my
daily gym routine. Naturally, I sauntered off to the hotel gym, praying my
fiancé wouldn’t see me before the ceremony. I could hardly sit still the entire
morning, but any nerves I had prior to the day were vanished. I knew exactly
what I wanted and knew I was making the best decision of my life. March
definitely went in like a lion and out like a lamb. The end of the month
spelled the end of our honeymoon. My husband and I continued to compete against
each other on the tennis court, but soon another test happened upon us and our
lives would be changed forever.
On June 24th, I took a pregnancy
test. It turned out to be positive. The first thing I did when I found out I
was pregnant (after telling my husband), was buy the first book I saw in a
Barnes and Noble on my lunch break. Any impulsive tendencies I may have seem to pop up during
monumental moments in my life. The first time I won an away tennis match, I
wrote the score on the back of my bus pass. I treated myself to a new watch the
year Ohio State won the national title in 2003. I wanted something to remember
this moment by too, so I did some minor retail therapy. I am more enamored by
books than clothes and B&N seemed the best place to go at the time. I still haven't' finished reading the book (Donna Tartt's "The Secret History") in entirety.
I’ve spent the last six months preparing for
our first born child (thus, the lack of tennis). I haven’t been this excited to
dress someone since I received Teddy Ruxpin as a gift some 27 years ago or so
(it’s okay to compare a newborn to a storytelling talking teddy bear, right?) This
year has been more remarkable and spectacular than I ever could have imagined.
I got married, got pregnant, bought a house and became a certified HR
professional. No one warned me that life could be this great. How do you close
the chapter on the best year of your life? Well, I am ready to slow down just a
little. I have a feeling that won’t be happening in 2016. My son, the little
baby who kicks and wiggles in my stomach, will have much to say about that. The
best way to close this chapter, for me at least, is to be grateful for the
blessings, to humble myself and navigate the new year in much the same way I
left 2015: with energy, hopefulness and peace.
“I see colors in a
different way; you make what doesn’t matter fade to gray”
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