To 2018

When we reflect on a period of time we often look to the highlights of the specific duration to create an image of what occurred. 

The moments of personal loss or failure, the incredible destinations traveled, the bucket list items checked, the achievements made and the goals conquered. 

But we often forget all the small moments that filled considerable time when summed together. It’s to these moments that a year belongs. To the 20 minutes laying in bed trying to fall asleep, 365 days of the year. To the 691 meals shared with others or consumed in solo introspection. It’s to the 1002 “I love you’s”, the 198 tough conversations, the 860 laughs, and the context with which all of these occurred. 

Brutality and difficulty underscored one side of the juxtaposition that was the year of 2018, while blessings, discovery, and promising new beginnings filled the metaphorical “yang” of that two sided coin.

So much to be thankful for. And much of it at a cost. A debt paid. An asset received. 

So much to reminisce on, good and bad. Big and small. Moments etched into deep memory — standing triumphant,  atop a 12,000 foot mountain after a grueling 6 hour hike or staring out of a hospital window, in a deep low, only to see dolphins swimming in the bay. 

It’s this dichotomy that I’ve discovered to be universal and in this dichotomy that I’ve learned more about the true nature of life. Time, attitude and experience.  

Time is the constant. Attitude is the input. And experience is the output. 

A year is just the summation of its recorded periods of time but more pertinent to the human condition, it is the product of those segments and how we think about them that defines a year. 

To 2018 

To triumph and disaster. 

Highs and lows.

To the good, the bad, the ugly.

And to the unquantifiable amount of moments in between. 

To 2018.

Curse you. 

Thank you.