It is December 31, 2025.
My life has looked very different than I thought it would at the beginning of the year; if I am honest, it looks very different than it did the last time I wrote here.
If you had told me that I would barely write a single thing that wasn’t work-related or a social media post for nearly two years, I would have laughed in your face. Writing is my safe place, where I make sense of the world, of course I would write… Wouldn’t I?
And yet, it’s true. I have both had so much and so little to say that anything that might have come out of me would be almost nonsensical and unfit for public consumption. However, I get asked somewhat regularly if I plan on writing again.
The answer is yes.
If you had told me that I would lose my job, spend five months in the hellscape that is jobhunting in 2025, and then find a job that feels so perfect for me that sometimes I have to pinch myself, I wouldn’t have believed you.
And yet, here I am – a month after starting a new job and meeting people whose names I’m still putting with voices and definitely messing up occasionally and feeling like I actually know what I’m doing even though the onboarding has gone… interestingly.
If you had told me that I would not run anything longer than 10km for the entire year, I would have told you that’s not possible.
And yet, it happened. I was injured both mentally and physically, and don’t know when I will get my get up and go again… but I registered for a marathon in five months, so I’d better get up and go!
If you had told me that I would seriously start making jewelry again, I would have said that I wanted to, but didn’t have the time, between work and school and life.
And yet I attended one market this year – my first since the pandemic – and joined a fundraiser to help rescued and abandoned animals find their forever homes. I have so many beads and supplies, and so many ideas, that I almost feel overwhelmed by the beauty of it all.
If you had told me that I would leave an animal rescue organization I had been a part of for years, and the reasons behind it, I would’ve told you that I saw it coming and just needed the push to go. I would find another rescue to support, and enjoy the comraderie with new colleagues while I stay in touch with a few I left behind.
If you had told me that my little family would gain a fifth cat – one that literally showed up on my doorstep – one that got along with every single other animal in the house (including the cat that doesn’t like change or other cats very much) I would’ve wondered what you’d been consuming, and if you’d mind sharing. A fifth cat was not in the cards for our zoo; the zoo is full!
And yet, our newest addition is sleeping off his neuter procedure this afternoon and hoping that we’ll bring his friends over to party with him.
If you had told me that I would wake up in the mornings, take a deep breath and feel my lungs fill with air, and like I had energy to do whatever I have to without a gnawing sense of dread, I would have asked you what that feels like, because I don’t remember.
And yet…
I am here.
I am writing.
I am working.
I plan to go running.
I am creating.
I am contributing through volunteerism.
And I am able to give a home to the sweetest little tabby cat in the world (no, really!)
I am here.
And I am not going anywhere.
My life has looked very different than I thought it would at the beginning of the year; if I am honest, it looks very different than it did the last time I wrote here.
If you had told me that I would barely write a single thing that wasn’t work-related or a social media post for nearly two years, I would have laughed in your face. Writing is my safe place, where I make sense of the world, of course I would write… Wouldn’t I?
And yet, it’s true. I have both had so much and so little to say that anything that might have come out of me would be almost nonsensical and unfit for public consumption. However, I get asked somewhat regularly if I plan on writing again.
The answer is yes.
If you had told me that I would lose my job, spend five months in the hellscape that is jobhunting in 2025, and then find a job that feels so perfect for me that sometimes I have to pinch myself, I wouldn’t have believed you.
And yet, here I am – a month after starting a new job and meeting people whose names I’m still putting with voices and definitely messing up occasionally and feeling like I actually know what I’m doing even though the onboarding has gone… interestingly.
If you had told me that I would not run anything longer than 10km for the entire year, I would have told you that’s not possible.
And yet, it happened. I was injured both mentally and physically, and don’t know when I will get my get up and go again… but I registered for a marathon in five months, so I’d better get up and go!
If you had told me that I would seriously start making jewelry again, I would have said that I wanted to, but didn’t have the time, between work and school and life.
And yet I attended one market this year – my first since the pandemic – and joined a fundraiser to help rescued and abandoned animals find their forever homes. I have so many beads and supplies, and so many ideas, that I almost feel overwhelmed by the beauty of it all.
If you had told me that I would leave an animal rescue organization I had been a part of for years, and the reasons behind it, I would’ve told you that I saw it coming and just needed the push to go. I would find another rescue to support, and enjoy the comraderie with new colleagues while I stay in touch with a few I left behind.
If you had told me that my little family would gain a fifth cat – one that literally showed up on my doorstep – one that got along with every single other animal in the house (including the cat that doesn’t like change or other cats very much) I would’ve wondered what you’d been consuming, and if you’d mind sharing. A fifth cat was not in the cards for our zoo; the zoo is full!
And yet, our newest addition is sleeping off his neuter procedure this afternoon and hoping that we’ll bring his friends over to party with him.
If you had told me that I would wake up in the mornings, take a deep breath and feel my lungs fill with air, and like I had energy to do whatever I have to without a gnawing sense of dread, I would have asked you what that feels like, because I don’t remember.
And yet…
I am here.
I am writing.
I am working.
I plan to go running.
I am creating.
I am contributing through volunteerism.
And I am able to give a home to the sweetest little tabby cat in the world (no, really!)
I am here.
And I am not going anywhere.
Life Unscripted 