I’ll be 28 in a couple weeks and, in the last year, I’ve been mostly bewilderedly amused at how outrageously awesome things have been going. I have a lot of reflection and joy correlated with all of this, but for right now, I’m just going to share the actual events instead of rambling on about my insights and how I’ve finally found ways to live in the “now” and how my life seems more mentally manageable and content than ever and how this better not mean that I’m dying soon.

~ My daughter was Rainbow-freaking-Brite for Halloween
~ I spent half of July with my old college roomie sitting around and doing nothing at her house on the Outer Banks. And it was magical.
~ I got a job! A real one! At a college! As a teacher! And I like it!
~ I was literally handed a trip to Burning Man this year by a number of complete strangers who simply wanted to make my longtime dream come true. I was also given a free place to eat and stay in NV, free camping gear from family, and a free cross-country chauffeur who didn’t mind me getting frisky with him every couple states. All I had to do was show up. The whole thing was over-the-top magical. The weather was unusually perfect, the events were wonderful, the people were divine… it was perfect.
~ We bought a house.
~ I got to go kayaking by myself.
~ I joined a playdate group with some of the most down-to-earth, kindhearted people I’ve met in NC.
~ My awesome husband took me to see John Waters’s Christmas show.
~ I spent a week at the beach with my family.
~ I went to a truly wonderful Beltane festival with a massive Maypole-wrapping ceremony before there was wild, heathenly, dancing around the fire to drums and fiddles.
~ I joined a book club
~ I took a roadtrip with an old friend across the South, showing her the magic of being Southern and meeting up with other old friends.
~ Aforementioned awesome husband did a complete makeover of our bedroom while I was on aforementioned roadtrip with friend.
~ My sugar scrub was featured in BUST magazine (and the Fayetteville Observer, which actually generated more business for me.)
~ I finally started decorating for Christmas again.
~ I went to a few wonderful “maiden circles” and wore crowns of flowers and danced around the fire and sang.
~ I went to a college Halloween party and felt like an old person.
~ I hit up ClydeFest!
~ I got to work in Pittsboro, NC, which is shockingly hip and fun for a town of 2,000 citizens.
~ My husband sewed a 6 ft. shark for my daughter (from Santa) that she now sleeps with every night. This is just generally awesome and happened in my vicinity, but it counts.
~ I won a prize pack from RuPaul’s Drag Race with a shirt and a wig and a calendar and falsie lashes and cool stuff! I never win sweepstakes!
~ One of my dearest friends moved 15 miles from me right before I moved to Fuquay, and, thus, my adjustment-to-a-new-town period was made easier. Falling in her door and having time-killing tea-and-conversation-and-maybe-a-drag-off-your-cigarette-but-not-a-whole-one-’cause-my-husband-will-get-mad for those first few months before she had to move again was a sanity saver.
~ I finally started composting and gardening regularly.
~ One of my oldest-and-dearests got married in May (and I cried with happiness about it like a dork EVEN when I received the “Save the Date” notice) and had a kickASS wedding that I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of (but wouldn’t have wanted to plan) and at which I got to reunite with some old coworkers (including one old friend in particular whose classic, signature humor made my entire month.)
~ A number of other things that I’ll keep to myself due to legal reasons but that were genuinely awesome (and harmless.)
~ I had purple and pink hair during the entire summer and, you know what? It looked really good!
~ My husband and I started [what we hope will be] a series of weird, confusion-inducing Christmas cards, which were successful in confusing/annoying our respective families.
~ There were no massive family dramas! Woo!!
~ I got to stay with one of my distant relatives and was happy to see that I’m not so unique in my family after all (this is a good thing.)
~ My subconscious finally FINALLY shut up and let me enjoy every moment for a change after years of pleading with my Higher Power for some peace and serenity.
~ I finally stopped apologizing for what I used to be and started telling people who held me hostage for my past that it was up to them to move forward. (Recovery IN YOUR FACE!)
~ I no longer had overdue amends to make. (PHEW!)
~ I have enough.

I’ve been turning to my husband a lot this year and saying “I really hope this isn’t the best year of my life” because, even though it is so far, I don’t want it to stay that way.

So, for my 28th birthday, I’d like to toast to this year looking like a complete and total drag in comparison to what’s to come.