Thinking back to 2016 is weird. The images that come to mind are beautiful ones, but actually, it was a really challenging year.
I lost an uncle and my last living grandparent that year. I wasn’t really liking grad school too much; it felt like I wasn’t contributing to the world in a meaningful way through my time there. Deanna got extremely sick in the beginning of the year and we spent our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple in a hospital in Portland.
That year, I trained for my first half marathon in Eugene. I never saw myself as someone who’d enjoy running, but I fell in love with it. And it was an apt metaphor for sticking through challenges to get to the triumph.
That same year, I got to go back to South Africa to revisit some kiddos who were now much more grown. I also got to adventure over to Swaziland, stay in a local’s house, then trek up in some gorgeous mountains.
We brought home our crazy doughnut of a dog in March and she instantly made our lives more exciting. We finally started to feel like we had a good community around Eugene. And we got to see all Seven Wonders of Oregon. By the end, I finished my thesis and grad school.
Beauty and hardship often go together in ways we don’t appreciate enough. If nothing else, this year was a great teacher.
#philippesdecade
Twenty Sixteen