This Is Not A New Year's Post

I've been struggling for the past 24 days with whether or not to write a New Year's post.

If anything, I've really decided against doing it.  The newness of this year is something I don't really feel like discussing.

If I'm going to be honest, the past 24 days of 2014 have really just firmed up the tidy little ending to a chaotic year, and the only thoughts the New Year has brought me are of its predecessor and all the many things that happened during 2013.

And so, in place of heralding in the current Ano Nuevo, I'd like to give a little salute'n'boot to 2013, and to tip my hat in honor of some things I learned along the way.

This isn't a re-cap, it's not a summation of events, it's not even going to be all that descriptive.  If you're looking to know exactly what's going on in my life, you're not going to find it here.  Nor are you going to discover what I've been up to since the last time I posted, which was the day before Thanksgiving.  If you want to know those things, call me.  It may be the age of technology and all, but hey, I'll tell you one thing: if you really want to make an impression on someone, call them.   Ask them how their life is going.  Be present.

(I digress.)

If, however, you enjoy my vaguely perilous dogmatic excerpts, and are no stranger to indistinct commentaries on the nuances of average, please, be my guest to continue reading.

THINGS I LEARNED IN 2013:

• I learned how to parallel park an all-wheel-drive wagon. (No small feat, I assure you.)
• I learned more about piano servicing than the average non-musical, non-technical person should ever know.
• I learned the difficult truth that when someone tells you they want to accompany you "always and forever" no matter where you go, the proper response is not to blurt out, "Well, that's just not realistic."
• I learned about the precious gift which is the type of smile you can hear in someone's voice. 
• I learned that the internet is capable of changing people in unexpected ways.
• I learned my identity in Christ.
• I learned that whenever a cute guy driving a huge RV towing a dune buggy and full to the brim of laughing twenty-somethings leans out of his window to yell, "Hiiii!  You're really pretty!!!!" In the middle of Sunday evening traffic in Santa Barbara, CA, you should accept the fact that you're beautiful, whether or not you agree. 
• I learned that some people have mermaid blood.
• I learned the difference between "I love you," and "I miss you."
• I learned that sharks have very similarly structured eyes to humans, and unlike most in the animal kingdom, they can see vividly in color.
• I learned that loneliness is not a curse, although it is a struggle to navigate.
• I learned that saying goodbye is the hardest possible thing to do.
• I learned that you are never too old to ride the teacups at Disneyland.
• I learned that I am surprisingly good at office administration.
• I learned that loved ones can hurt you.  Deeply.
• I learned that people cannot be navigated.
• I learned the fondness I have for the diversity of a certain four-lettered word.
• I learned that tragedy strikes in the most raw, intimate, and devastating manners possible.
• I learned the power of a good voicemail.
• I learned that sometimes, the only proper response is to scream out, "ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING!" at the top of your lungs.
• I learned how lost you feel when you compromise one of the most beautiful, priceless relationships in your life.
• I learned that Michigan is known as the "mitten state."
• I learned that it is one-hundred percent possible to miss someone you've only met once, and are likely to never meet again.
• I learned that God walks on the Ocean floor.
• Finally, I learned that no matter how old you keep getting, you never stop learning new things.

2013 was a riotous stampede of rust and wreckage.

Thanks for the memories.

XoXo,

Hannah