Well, it finally happened. Proverbial Putts went an entire year with just one sole post.
I suppose as one gets older, less and less time is spent selfishly pontificating about your own life and emotions. Having a job that requires sitting in front of a computer all day, reading and writing, also doesn't inspire much desire to come home and do more of the same.
I actually did reboot Zotcubed in an effort to keep my "writing for fun" juices flowing, and I thought about writing on here a couple times, but it just never happened.
Old habits die hard though; I'm not quite ready to retire my annual year-end reflection post. So let's see...
2016 was the first full "join the work force and be a real adult" year of my life. It was also a year that challenged me in new ways, shaking my confidence tremendously at times. I feel somewhat accomplished for having successfully reached the other side, but I'm more excited to build off this past year with a better one in 2017.
2016 was a year of cramming travel into long-weekends. Due to losing my student-life freedoms, we substituted my international trips for short weekend getaways. Las Vegas, Denver, Austin, San Francisco, Lake Cuyamaca, Napa, Orange County and Los Angeles, all fun times in their own right. We capped it all off with our quasi-one year anniversary trip to Hawaii (Kauai and Oahu) over Thanksgiving, a vacation I was especially thankful for.
2016 was another big year of weddings. I was lucky enough to serve as a groomsman for Fooks and toast Yibs as one of his best men. We had another joyous Ambalamps reunion for Ambrose, and a Glory reunion in SF for Vince. All friendships and celebrations I cherish.
2016 also saw the addition of a new family member. Pippin the dog (after Peregrin Took) overcame her bout with a canine version of lyme's disease, not to mention whatever other hardships she experienced on the streets of Mexico, and spent many-a-night happily thumping her tail under our bed. Although she still has some peculiar behavioral issues that we're working on, she went from zero tricks to three and a half in the course of four-ish months. So there's hope yet, even if she manages to get by on her cuteness regardless.
And finally, 2016 was a year for exposing the many ways that I can improve as a husband. There seem to be so few precious hours in a day that we're not occupied with work and other obligations -- hopefully 2017 will be a year of maximizing the hours we do have to make strides onward and upward.
