happy golden days

photo by me | may 2011

the blessings of '11 |

And so I reminisced alone this afteroon, on the last day of the year, silently reviewing my life within the past two years. Those happy golden days in this forsaken, this beautiful world. I love looking back and remembering in mental pictures. I love comparing things to how they were then to how they are now. Every detail is vivid and pronounced--the different stages we pass into and through, the fleeting moments, the times that seemed so hard then, the simple things that make everything magnificent. Really, it is not just 2012 I am welcoming--I feel as though I am entering some sort of new dream and a new road in this ever-building climax. The Lord hath dealt bountifully with me and I sense an entirely new "stage" of the "exceedingly abundantly all I could ever ask or think" lying shining and yet undefined before me.

the lessons of '11 |

I love life, and I love the God who answered my prayers, one year ago today, when I asked Him to make my days really have meaning in 2011. But I learned a few lessons as the pages of my book slid more fully open--don't dwell so much on your dreams that you forget to live. Don't plan everything out and run at in blind abondon. Each day is a day closer to death; our future is already here, and we're missing out on it by wanting something better. Focus on today--don't even think of next week, or next month, or next year. I've experieced that it's the most unplanned things that have been the most amazing. Dream on, but don't look at life as a duty, a race against the clock, something to accomplish. Living to the hilt doesn't mean driving yourself mad with needing to do life now. Sometimes the easiest way to live fully is to just be still, stop, listen, breathe.

the highlights of '11 |

--succesfully threw Michaela an epicly huge and complicated surprise 20th party, thanks to the help of loving and willing friends. I had been wanting to have a surprise party for her of some sort a couple years ahead and when the time came, it was...indeed...epic. 

--saw my beloved High Kings guys' again in March. And got special hugs. They make me so, so happy.

--was priveleged to see one of my favorite musicals live in April: Les Miserables. I'm sorta geeky with that kind of stuff. =)

--bought a Rebel XSI camera. The first baby step toward my photography ambitions. 

--flew in a plane for the first time and saw a massive portion of the US from the air. It was riveting. The trip was my gradutation gift.

--saw Portland, snow capped mountains, the ocean, Disneyland, Hollywood, Beverly Hills/Bell Air/Rodeo Drive, Coranado, and San Diego on formentioned vacation. All firsts, and all what they're cracked up to be. And now the faint white mountain peeks and the starfish and the magic of Disneyland and marriachi bands and sushi and the walk of fame and palm trees and the Spanish costume and the exhilerating ariel views will be indeiblaby stamped on my mind. 

--spent time with old and new Oregonian/Washington friends. Attended a REAL Oregon Ball (the ones held by original HSA English Country dancers, FYI,) and danced Marie's Wedding in the McMinnville Ballrooom. It may sound silly to some, but that dance...that Ballroom...those people...stemmed so many good times in my past two years. 

--graduated from homeschool high school. 

--saw The High Kings three more times. We took the whole family. =) I've seen them five times altogether (brag, brag, brag).

--learned to sew. It was on my list of big-to-dos, so it's kinda important. 

--bought my first cell phone. Another thing the list, so yep, kinda important too.

--treated mom and Michaela and myself to Andrea Bocelli in concert. It was spectacular. Yes, we're fans (!!!).

These are merely the obvious highlights of my year. I honestly can't fathom how quickly it's gone by--that I'm once more gearing up for a whole new journey ahead. What will change in the coming year? What will happen? Who will I meet? Where will I go? Whose life might I touch? What can I do for the Lord? 

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. -Ecc. 3:11 |

-anna