Connected

I know we are already five days into the New Year but I wanted to write some kind of wrap up to 06 before the month of January slips away as quickly as the last twelve did.

2006 you were quite the year. As much I I sometimes feel like nothing in my life ever fundamentally changes-I spend my days at work which I alternately love and hate, I spend my evenings with friends, at the gym or doing church stuff and I often spend too much time thinking about boys and the size of my butt-looking back on this particular year it sort of seems like I was a contestent on some "Extreme Makeover: Who Am I? Edition". Looking back over my experiences of the last year the common thread seems to be one of reconnection.

I feel like moving back to California reintroduced me to myself. I am not sure I will ever be able to fully articulate the bizarreness of my time in Boston to anyone else. Incredibly frustrating for someone who likes to think she can explain just about anything. But I know these three things; 1) that I never would have gone had I not felt compelled by a Higher Power, 2) that it was one of the best decisions of my life and 3) that I wake up everyday thrilled that I get to live in HB again. I made some of the best friends of my life on the East Coast and learned all sorts of things about what I am capable of-some good things and some disappointing things. I feel like I got to bring all those people and those lessons back to the me that was left in California and give her a depth and a perspective she couldn't have gotten by staying here. I have never felt as comfortable with myself and where I am in my life as I have this last year. From the very superficial fact that I feel like I flat out look better, to the confidence I feel at work, and at church and in relationships, I am further along to becoming the person I want to be than ever before.

It is rare that you can move away from a city and actually feel closer to your friends there. Between work trips to the East Coast, and endless parade of visitors to Orange County, road trips to SF, marathons, gchat, CD exchanges, blogs, boys who suprised the heck out of me by actually staying in touch, swab weddings and Corey moving in two blocks away-I don't feel like I lost track of anyone I love and in fact, I feel like every single one of those meaningful friendships is stronger now than they were when I lived there.

This was a year where I got to have BOTH Lori and Bev crash at my house, got to work on a project with old high school teasers who have become dear adult friends, saw the last of my Sunday School group tie the knot, watched a bunch of friends become first time moms and a few say hello to second editions, got closer to OC kids I didn't know so well the first time I was here and even managed to make a new friend or two. I saw my Mission President and his wife for the first time in three years and spent a weekend pretending I was 18 again with the people who actually knew me when I was.

I reconnected with my Church. I won't get all religious here because it feels a little too personal but I found my way out of a fog this year that I was grateful to leave. Clarity has been a welcome friend as of late.

And mostly, I reconnected with my family. I feel really lucky that I got to spend a lot of time with Sterling and Megan when I lived in Boston. I love my brother but I am pretty sure that he was born under a pretty killer star to have scored a wife like Megan. She is about 1/3 his size but she can turn him into liquid with a look. It's completely awesome to watch them together. We established an adult friendship while I was there that meant we stayed pals over the last year and I even got to spend some time with them in August when Megan competed in the triathlon I dropped out of. But living out here means that I got to go to Utah more often and my family got to come here more often. Whether it was sibling-fest in St. George, a random night out in Seattle with Christasha, video game conventions in LA with Emily, birthday surprises, the chillest Thanksgiving ever or a divine Christmas vacation-I can't get enough of my family this year. I have more to say about them but I will save it for a week from yesterday when I am in Utah yet again-and this time with the whole clan-to welcome our dear little Logan home from the Phillipines.

2007 really has it's work cut out for it if it wants to compete.