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"one learns that the world, though made, is yet being made; that this is still the morning of creation; that mountains long conceived are now being born, channels traced for coming rivers, basins hollowed for lakes; that moraine soil is being ground and outspread for coming plants,—coarse boulders and gravel for forests, finer soil for grasses and flowers,—while the finest part of the grist, seen hastening out to sea in the draining streams, is being stored away in darkness and builded particle on particle, cementing and crystallizing, to make the mountains and valleys and plains of other predestined landscapes, to be followed by still others in endless rhythm and beauty." - john muir
2013 was a big year for me, not least based on the fact that i'm tempted to write "2013 was a big year for us."
ok, so maybe it's that steve and i made our commitment a bit more official, maybe it's the fact that we're living together so the concept of me and mine is different. but i think it might be more than that. because 2013 wasn't just a big year for me and steve; 2013 was a big year for all of us.
my grandfather passed away, my sister and two cousins also celebrated engagements, my cousin and her husband welcomed in the newest member of the family, and so, so many of our friends made huge changes and steps in their own varied lives.
2013 was a big year for us.
if i could choose to give the past year a slogan, i might choose to call it 'the great collide.' if i could say one thing about 2013 it is that the entire year was marked by an enormous and constant experience of everything joining together; people, places, ideas, experiences... things just seem much more closely connected this year. it's rare that i feel i can look back on a given point in time and find that it's knitted together so neatly. families and friends and acquaintances; places and memories and ideas and experiences, all of it feels pulled into one, in ways that have never happened before.
i could fill up the entire internet, attempting to share with everyone the utterly miraculous experiences we've had in the past twelve months. but even though it feels like we've packed a lifetime into 2013, it's not the things that have happened to me this last year that make it so special in my mind. it is the things that i learned, and the new opportunities i have gained for understanding, that make this year of intersections the most monumentally positive one i have ever had in my life.
it would take more letters than my fingers can type to put the lessons of 2013 into words, but here are the easiest ones for me to share:
1. failure for its own sake is dangerous and foolish to fear. the fear of failure for failure's sake is the fear of one's own inadequacies; we are afraid that who we are will not meet the arbitrary qualifications of "enough" to be successful. but in truth, there is no such thing as enough. we could always do, have, be more. we can only know the definition of 'enough' retrospectively. failure is a part of life; it is ineffable. it is a necessary condition of living one's life, and that is nothing to fear.
2. evil is a product of in-admirable choices made by those whose experiences have taught them inaccurate things about others and the world. just as we have a responsibility not to foster and teach each other hatred, we have a responsibility to empathize with and learn from the lives of those who have the misfortune of such a destructive worldview.
3. every other human being is having a human experience that is exactly as real, genuine, and important as your own experience is to you. if you are fortunate enough to believe in the value of your own life, you have no right to judge the worth of another.
4. time is simply one additional dimension through which human beings experience reality. the reality of what has been, is, and will be never changes, comes about, or goes away; its existence is eternal. we understand ideas like past, present, and future based on our limited human ability to physically experience reality in a linear fashion.
anyway, we're sure looking forward to 2014. if we thought this past year was a big one, we truly haven't seen anything yet. weddings, vacations, and a cross-country move. crazy as it may be next year, i truly can't believe how lucky steve and i are to have so many wonderful people who care about us, and to have so many fortunate plans on our horizon.
wishing everyone the best and then some in 2014!
ok, so maybe it's that steve and i made our commitment a bit more official, maybe it's the fact that we're living together so the concept of me and mine is different. but i think it might be more than that. because 2013 wasn't just a big year for me and steve; 2013 was a big year for all of us.
my grandfather passed away, my sister and two cousins also celebrated engagements, my cousin and her husband welcomed in the newest member of the family, and so, so many of our friends made huge changes and steps in their own varied lives.
2013 was a big year for us.
if i could choose to give the past year a slogan, i might choose to call it 'the great collide.' if i could say one thing about 2013 it is that the entire year was marked by an enormous and constant experience of everything joining together; people, places, ideas, experiences... things just seem much more closely connected this year. it's rare that i feel i can look back on a given point in time and find that it's knitted together so neatly. families and friends and acquaintances; places and memories and ideas and experiences, all of it feels pulled into one, in ways that have never happened before.
i could fill up the entire internet, attempting to share with everyone the utterly miraculous experiences we've had in the past twelve months. but even though it feels like we've packed a lifetime into 2013, it's not the things that have happened to me this last year that make it so special in my mind. it is the things that i learned, and the new opportunities i have gained for understanding, that make this year of intersections the most monumentally positive one i have ever had in my life.
it would take more letters than my fingers can type to put the lessons of 2013 into words, but here are the easiest ones for me to share:
1. failure for its own sake is dangerous and foolish to fear. the fear of failure for failure's sake is the fear of one's own inadequacies; we are afraid that who we are will not meet the arbitrary qualifications of "enough" to be successful. but in truth, there is no such thing as enough. we could always do, have, be more. we can only know the definition of 'enough' retrospectively. failure is a part of life; it is ineffable. it is a necessary condition of living one's life, and that is nothing to fear.
2. evil is a product of in-admirable choices made by those whose experiences have taught them inaccurate things about others and the world. just as we have a responsibility not to foster and teach each other hatred, we have a responsibility to empathize with and learn from the lives of those who have the misfortune of such a destructive worldview.
3. every other human being is having a human experience that is exactly as real, genuine, and important as your own experience is to you. if you are fortunate enough to believe in the value of your own life, you have no right to judge the worth of another.
4. time is simply one additional dimension through which human beings experience reality. the reality of what has been, is, and will be never changes, comes about, or goes away; its existence is eternal. we understand ideas like past, present, and future based on our limited human ability to physically experience reality in a linear fashion.
anyway, we're sure looking forward to 2014. if we thought this past year was a big one, we truly haven't seen anything yet. weddings, vacations, and a cross-country move. crazy as it may be next year, i truly can't believe how lucky steve and i are to have so many wonderful people who care about us, and to have so many fortunate plans on our horizon.
wishing everyone the best and then some in 2014!
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