guns and barbells

Because it’s New Year’s Eve and I’m spending it in my pajamas on my couch (just the way I like it, thankyouverymuch), there are a few extra minutes for reflection.  Here are the highlights (and lowlights) of my 2016.

• I really, really wanted to quit my job. But I didn’t because I’m an adult and well, mortgage.  I desperately sought out a new job; heck, I even accepted a new one!  But God said “not yet” and I’m still waiting on paperwork and processes to move along.  Definitely wondering whether they ever will.
• I went on deployment to Israel! It was 4 months (that turned into 5) full of new friends, fun, adventure, challenge, frustration, history, fitness, beach, stray cats, hummus, bicycle accidents, and that nasty elbow infection.
• On that same note, I learned that true friends are the ones who make a concerted effort to keep in touch while you’re overseas (and off Facebook). They call.  They text.  They send you silly memes.  They actually notice that you’re gone and let you know that you are missed.
• I ran a half marathon. On a mountain.  Because I’m a dummy.  But there was a moose on the trail!  Putting that on the list of things I’m never doing again – running a half marathon, not seeing moose.
• I lifted weights. And then I didn’t lift weights because I injured my neck.  And then the chiropractor fixed my neck.  (Insert 8 weeks here.)  And then I lifted weights again!  I even wore a singlet in an Olympic lifting meet.
• I didn’t shoot at all. Well, I took a friend out to a local pistol match one day, but that was it.  And you know what?  I didn’t really miss it all that much; didn’t seem like the sport missed me that much either.
• I broke up with someone I loved dearly because I thought it was the right thing to do, and it nearly destroyed me. I cried for two days on my kitchen floor in a foreign country, then put off dealing with it until I got home from deployment, when it crushed me all over again.  I got sad; I got angry at God; I felt lost; I got sadder; eventually I went numb.
• I ignored the election as much as possible. I avoided Facebook as much as possible.  There was no good to be found in either. I didn’t blog about much because I lacked inspiration and struggled to find something positive to say.
• I didn’t get a promotion, but I got more responsibility at work. I was in charge of a team for the first time.  I worked a ton, and didn’t lift weights because I was too busy working.  But I grew stronger in other ways and embraced the challenge.  I marveled at how the environment at the job (that I really, really wanted to quit) had changed so much for the better in such a short period of time…but I continued to wait on that other job to open up.

2016 is definitely a year I’ll remember, for reasons both good and bad.  Here’s to hoping 2017 has predominantly more highlights than lowlights!