It’s pretty much impossible for me to pick a favorite year from this decade, but you could make a really strong case for 2014.
Such a packed year.
I spent the first bit of the year teaching in Bakersfield. The year started off simple enough, and I got a long term gig in a special needs class. I learned so much.
I nearly moved to Denver, but got an offer from UO I couldn’t say no to. Still enjoyed visiting Colorado.
May had a couple of big tragedies, but they kind of set things into focus for the rest of the year. Deanna and I started talking about our future together.
I spent most of that summer in Asia. I ate my way around Seoul with a great friend. I took a surreal visit to the DMZ. I was invited by a refugee camp to guest teach a sociology class and learned more about the struggles of the stateless. Deanna and I spent a weekend in Tokyo and I also snuck in a solo trip to Taiwan.
We also went to the Philippines so Deanna could meet my grandma. We celebrated her 96th birthday and it was the last time I got to see her before she passed two years later.
Back home we also took a few great trips out to explore nature with friends: Glacier National Park and Yosemite were pristine.
How do you end a summer like that? I proposed.
We ended the year in Oregon, setting up our new life over there. Things quieter down, but the year was eventful enough that a few quiet months weren’t so bad. This was definitely one of those years that left me feeling like... woah, you can do all this??
Twenty Fourteen