Year 25: An Exhilarating Rollercoaster

Another year has past for me. I'm no longer 25 but I don't feel any different other than the fact that it has definitely been the best year of my life so far despite how challenging this year has been. If you'd asked me last year on my 25th birthday if I see myself where I am today, I'd probably laugh and say, "I'll probably be debt free and just doing what I can to enjoy the life I God gave me." Little did I know that the guy I went on two dates with at the time would be my husband almost 9 months later. This has been a year full of hills, valleys, and valleys in the hills. It has been the year of lots of positive changes.

At the beginning of 2020 (before Covid), I had a list of goals I wanted to accomplish. I didn't end up going to Hawaii or go scuba diving or travel around the country in a rigged up van. But the one goal I accomplished was paying off my loans. I believe this is really the only goal I accomplished even though I decided to wait to pay it off until the end of the year because the interest rate was frozen. I at least got that down.

I moved again this past year, which has been my 6th or 7th move in 5 years. I'm starting to lose count and I'm hoping that this trend of moving around isn't going to be a thing very soon. I've got furniture I like now so that's an additional motivator. I've also had 3 groups of friends move away in a matter of a month, which was hard to see, but it's good to see them doing so well. I think this was a driving force that God gave me to trust in Josh because I don't trust men very easily.

Surprisingly, I've traveled more in the last year than I have in my life. I've done 4 cross country round trips in 1 year; 2 of which were trips specifically to visit family. I got to mark off 2 more states from my list of states to visit because I got to see my best friend who moved to North Carolina and went to Disney World in Florida for our honeymoon. North Carolina was a nice respite through all of the chaos and stress from figuring out a wedding. Disney World was an experience I can't properly explain because it was like I was a kid again and experiencing a whole new world outside of the real world.

The most significant blessing and change that has happened to me is that I married Josh. I was pretty much close to burn out from constantly fighting to make ends meet. After Josh and his family came into my life, I started noticing so many positive changes in my life. It also didn't take long for all of us to be on the same page and know that we're a really great fit. We decided that we weren't going to wait to get married after Covid because it made sense to get married sooner rather than later.

Then there's the wedding planning...I never thought I'd have to plan a wedding during the most difficult time you could plan one. I always jokingly think that God likes making me really work for the things that I want and are good for me. Just like putting myself through college, wedding planning was very challenging. With the state of our country in response to Covid, it made planning not very fun. I knew that no matter what God will provide the wedding we'd need for Covid no matter how hard it might be. In the course of 5 months, I'd have to say that I planned about 4 or 5 weddings while working full time and moving out of my previous apartment to the one I currently live in. Despite it all, the wedding we had was beautiful and most of my family made it across the country to attend it. It also helped Josh and I communicate more and get to know each other a lot better so even that makes it even more worth it.

I also was able to share part of what my life is like in Washington with some family. I was really excited to bring my 14-year-old sister, Melanie, back with me 5 weeks before the wedding as well as my mother for 4 weeks. It was something I really wanted to share with them, and I was so glad that I finally could. It was such a fun time, and I'll always cherish the time that I had with them.

Finally, I truly realized I have been working my body so hard the last 8 years that it decided to shut down immediately after the wedding. I have been and currently still have some unexplainable symptoms but I have it mostly under control temporarily until I can get some medical help. I do have days where I am pretty tired and have a slight migraine, but I can manage to stay up just long enough and keep a migraine at bay right before it gets pretty bad. I did finally get some movement this month on what could be the cause. There are a couple ideas my new doctor thinks it could be, but I'll start getting some real answers after my blood work comes in from this week. I'm hopeful that I'll start feeling what normal can be like soon. Life is definitely starting to feel like a bunch of appointments and events for me. It's good to start feeling like normal life is coming back again, but it's definitely been overwhelming for me at times. It's just a new normal where I'm learning how to say "no" so that I can have a small break in the week for my health.

My birthday this year has been a stark difference from the last few years because I've spent a lot of my birthdays alone, especially last year. Changes like these can be pretty overwhelming for me so spending it with a group of people who want to do what I want to do is definitely not what I'm used to now.  Thankfully, it's been a relaxing birthday for me.

I'm excited to see the changes and things God will bring in my life in this coming year. I'm looking forward to hopefully feeling better and getting the answers I need. Josh and I have plans (both short term and long term) but we're relying on God and praying to get the direction we need. A lot can happen in 1 year like this past year where I went from single and just making ends meet to being married to a great man and having the stability to get the care and time I need to take care of the health issues that I've been struggling with the past few years.