How do I best summarize 2013? I'd say it was my year-long struggle to finish reading House of Leaves, but that would wrongly imply that I've actually finished it. I could say it was the year of Forming Good Habits, like finally making my bed each morning and going running again, but if I'm very honest, neither of those things started happening on a regular basis until September or October. Saying that 2013 was the year of Weekly Quarter-Life Crises wouldn't be fair to 2012, 2011, and 2010, which contained just as much self-doubt and just as little direction.
It's dangerous to start talking about all of the good things that happened to me in the past year, because I might realize that my life is pretty cool and then what would I possibly whine about? For each sad, disappointing or difficult day, I've had ten times as many beautiful, too-good-to-be-true moments that made me feel extremely lucky to be alive. As I'm sure I've mentioned to everyone I meet, I had the privilege and the pleasure of spending 5 days a week in a classroom with 22 of the future's brightest minds and biggest hearts (and very, very healthy lungs). I wrote a poem about those students, and it turned out that a few people liked it enough to give me a Certificate of National Merit. When the elementary school year was over, I went back to big people school to work on my master's degree in education.
A few months into school, I was accepted into a journalism internship in downtown Dallas working in the same room as Peter Simek, an arts writer I've creepily admired for the past year (if you ever find this blog, Peter, please let me know so I can crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment). That journalism internship led to some freakishly unreal encounters, like sitting in a room with Maroon 5 and having lunch with Wendy Davis. It also led to a few really rewarding experiences that put my art degree to use, like interviewing Gustavo Artigas about his latest work and talking with Enrique Fernandez Cervantes about the Dia de los Muertos show he's curated in Dallas for the past 15 years.
And then there are the beautiful things that happened to both Ernesto and I. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis treated us to a free concert in Austin, where we experienced firsthand the chaos and joy of SXSW. We were able to fly to Mexico, where he met the dozens of aunts, uncles, and cousins that make up my family. On another trip to Mexico, we rubbed shoulders with Pau Dones and listened to him sing our favorite songs at a Jarabe de Palo concert. Our brief foray into astronomy at Carleton turned out to be super helpful as we saw the sun, the moon, and the planets in indescribable detail at the McDonald Observatory. On Sunday nights, we watched the rise, fall, and redemption of Walter White on the big screen at the Angelika--until the rest of Dallas caught on and we had to stream the final episode from some sketchy website with our fingers crossed. Occasionally, we'd take a break from hanging out with our TV friends to spend time with our real life friends, like seeing Mark and Karla tie the knot in Minnesota or discovering the best Tex-Mex in Dallas with Jonathan and Ashley. When it was cold enough to wear a sweatshirt, we slept under the stars in Oklahoma on our first solo camping trip, which reminded us of the virtues of fresh air, sunshine, and trail mix with a proper M&M-to-peanut ratio.
As if it weren't enough for it to be an especially awesome year for the two of us, 2013 was a spectacular time for many of our friends and family. It's been exciting to see so many of our good friends decide to stick with each other for the long haul, like Tony and Jenny, Chase and Heather, and Nick and Mahal. Over the summer, twenty-some people stayed at a house with us in Cape Coral to celebrate summertime with Cuban food, Domino tournaments and card games with Luis, Isa, Gus and Grace. Despite some moderate altitude sickness and one missed train, my family was able to see Lima, Cuzco and Machu Picchu. Ernesto and I dropped in on Lucia's 11th birthday party in El Paso, where we were relieved to see that the Cha Cha Slide has yet to go out of style. In an unprecedented turn of events in December, we had the honor of meeting Thiago Jesus Hurtado --Jorge and Cortney's baby boy-- a full month before he was due, and his arrival made our frigid Rochester visit just a little bit warmer. To top everything off, Ernesto's grandparents celebrated 50 years of marriage, suggesting that the secret to a successful love life and the secret to a perfect batch of croquetas are one and the same.
I don't want to imply that anyone else has had as good a year as I did--for too many people, the past year has had more trials than all of 23 of mine combined. Instead, I want to take a moment to recognize that so many of the good things I enjoyed over the past 365 days were due in large part to the people around me. To my parents, for loving me unconditionally and reminding me that the world won't fall apart if things don't go according to plan. To my brother for being my sounding board and to my sister for being my personal mp3 player. To my friends for assuring me that I'm sane when I feel otherwise. To my coworkers for teaching me by example and to my professors who showed as much interest in asking questions as in answering them. And, of course, to Ernesto for persistently rubbing the fog off of my window to let the sunlight in, even when I insisted on clouding it again myself.
Now that it's time to make room for a new, different year, I feel like I'm saying goodbye to 2013 the way I'd say goodbye to a kind stranger who has been way too nice to me for reasons I can't even imagine. And I guess I'm saying goodbye to 2013 with the hope that, in return for all the undeserved servings of Awesome I got last year, I can try to pay some of it forward in 2014 by spending less time eating my weight in mint chip ice cream and more time being mindful of wherever I am and whoever I'm with. So anyway, thanks guys, for being with me.
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| Some hastily made design, just for you. |
