NYE Plans & a {quick} 2013 Recap

Can you believe it's already New Years Eve??  I know I can't!  This year seemed to have flown by.  It's definitely been one of the best years yet.  Sure, there were some very unpleasant and downright depressing things to happen, but as always, we overcame each obstacle, or at least, we're still learning to.

As for NYE plans, well, I've never really been big on NYE.  Don't get me wrong, I like celebrating (let's be honest, I love any excuse to put on real clothes, gather with friends, and take photos.)  But I've never been one to go all out.  Back in St. Louis, everyone else was going to clubs and bars, paying between $80-$150 for a ticket to get in.  Not my thing.  I did it once and had no desire to do it again.  I'm much more of a house party goer when it comes to NYE.  The past two years I've actually spent NYE at my parents house with just them and my siblings.  And they were some of my best yet!!  

This year?  Well, it's 11am and our plans are still up in the air.  One of the wonderful things about military life is duty.  (that was said in total sarcasm for all my non-military readers).  Nick was scheduled for a 24 hour duty today.  Don't ask me what he actually has to do on this duty.  But it's on-call.  He had to go in at 8am this morning, will go back in this afternoon, and hopefully that will be the last time.  As of now, he shouldn't be there when midnight strikes. But it's the military, and if you're familiar with her, you know she's pretty much a demanding, selfish mistress to our men.  So odds are something will happen and Nick will be called into work just as the ball is dropping.  If that's the case, I'm going with him.  I'm bringing my New Years tiara and champagne.  I know Nick can't drink with me, but he's wearing that tiara with his flight suit.  I'm not letting the Navy cause me to celebrate husbandless.  I'm sure I'll have plenty of husbandless NYEs when it comes to deployments, but I won't be husbandless when he's in the same damn city!!!!

2013 was a year filled with some of the most joy I've ever experienced as well as some of the deepest pain I've ever felt.

 I had my first real cancer scare, we had my family and Nick's family come to visit (four times total!), we experienced our first military goodbyes to true friends we me made in Pensacola, as well as made new great friendships, I lost my beloved Grandpa and am still learning how to cope with it, I experienced one of the proudest moments of my life as I pinned on Nick's wings of gold in accomplishing his biggest life dream, we said goodbye to our first home and Pensacola, moved to Jacksonville FL, Nick began his aviation career in the fleet flying the MH-60R, we bought our first home together, we bought a new car, I landed my dream job, we took an anniversary trip to Disney World (my first ever), we roadtripped to Atlanta to watch the Cardinals take on the Braves, it was an amazing year for my teams in sports as our Cardinals made it to the World Series and Mizzou football, in their 2nd year in the SEC, landed themselves in the SEC Championship, I was able to travel to St. Louis four different times this year, we spent lots of time with my sister and BIL in Alabama, , I got another clear scan putting me 7 years in remission, I learned it's okay to let go of some friendships which allowed me to strengthen myself, I deepened other friendships, my sister got engaged, my best friend shared huge and exciting news with me, I adopted a much healthier lifestyle, we had our first ER vet free year, we got ourselves into a much better financial situation, I finally own a nice DSLR camera, and we ended the year yesterday by welcoming (from afar) our first ever niece into the world.

All in all, it's been a fantastic year.  My heart is still healing from losing my hero, but I have so many wonderful people, experiences, and life events to be grateful for.  Grandpa taught me to focus on the positive and live a glass-half-full (of manhattans of course) life.  And that's just what I will continue to do.  I look forward to 2014 and whatever it has in store for me!