This Might Be a New Year's Post

Here's the truth:

When I try to put 2014 into words, I stumble.

when I think back on 2014, no words come to mind.  Just pictures.

Just memories.

It was one hell of a year, though- if I'm honest.

In late 2013, as I normally do, I predicted that the theme for 2014 would be summed up by one word: unity.

I can't begin to tell you how deeply that word has invaded my life over the past year.

Unity.
To live and breathe in unison, understanding and supporting and praying for each other.  This is something that my family has had experience re-learning over the past 12 months, starting in February when my sister and niece moved in with us, because her husband suddenly decided he didn't want to be a husband anymore.  Or a father.

One day, she came over to visit for the afternoon- and she never went home to her old life.

God has been merciful this year, and full of grace, as always, but there has been a heartache cast over 2014 that none of us predicted, expected, or asked for.

My family's hurts are just some of many that all humanity has experienced over the past 12 months.  I know individuals who have struggled far more than I have, and who have carried a far deeper hurt than I ever could.  Again, God has been merciful this year.

He has brought us back together under one roof, and as I reflect over the past year and all of the jagged ups and the rollicking downs it carried with it, I feel moved to tears by something that runs very deep within my heart.  When I think of the faces belonging to my father, mother, sister, niece, unity pierces my very being.  We are one.  We have sheltered storms.  We have broken barriers.  We have fought the enemy in many ways.  We are still fighting.  God has made us warriors, with the hearts of warriors, and we are united.

I love them more now than I have ever loved them before in my entire life.

2014 was not all struggle, though.

There's a good bit to be said for a lot of happy memories that I made in 2014 as well.

I belly-laughed more times than I can count, and I died my hair bright orange.

I  fell in love with this quote, " Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread." -Edward Abbey, and I fell in love with adventuring.

I watched my niece grow a little more every single day, and learn how to use her hands and mouth and to hear words come bubbling forth in tiny sentence spurts.  Now she sings at full volume "Let it go, let it go!" And she brings a smile to my face, daily. Her world is clouded, but she is a brazen beam of light.

I went to my first major league soccer game and I made new friends.

I met one of my biggest inspirations at a book signing of his in downtown Portland. His name is Chris Burkard, and he's the realest, most down-to-earth, insanely gifted nature and surf photographer/adventurer I've ever come across. A true pioneer. I got to tell him one of his trips inspired the Cali roadtrip Bek and I took 2 summers ago all the way down Highway 101 and Highway 1. He smiled like a little kid.

I ate a lot of really good food and took a lot of work trips to Bellevue/Seattle and got to spend a good portion of all those work trips playing with my friends.

I skated more this year than I have since I first learned how when I lived at the beach, and I taught myself how to disassemble and reassemble a skateboard.

I went to California a lot.

I saw a lot of amazing concerts, including my spirit animal Cher, and my not-so-secret crush, Justin Timberlake.

I felt the thrill of riding on the back of a friend's motorcycle for the very first time.

I watched my sister exercise the deepest amount of strength I have ever seen come forth from one person. She is a true warrior and I am humbled by her fortitude.  I am proud of her perseverance.

I spent my first ever cage dive surrounded by my three best friends and I stared my future directly in the face, and experienced that elusive moment of discovering exactly what it is you want to do with the rest of your life.

I climbed to the bottom of so many waterfalls, and stuck my feet in so many mountain streams.

I canoed.  I ran. I renewed my passport. I ignored all the signs that read "stay on the path."

I beached. I worked my ass off.  I painted so many walls. I celebrated a lot of weddings.

I took a lot of road trips with really fantastic people.

I flew to SoCal on a whim and saw One Direction live at one of the world's biggest stadiums with 90,000 screaming teenage girls, and I survived.

I watched Christian Hosoi's small son touch the sky at the Vans Skate Park in Orange.

I climbed 1,000 very old steps to watch a Hawaiian sunset from the top of a mountain.

I cage-dove with sharks, twice. Twice!

I drank a lot of smoothies.

I cliff-jumped off the side of a waterfall.

I bought a ukulele, and learned how to play it.

I crashed an ATV into a tree on a ranch in Hawaii.  I got back on. I raced around hairpin turns and figure 8s and I was good at it.

I met and hugged the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, New Found Glory, outside a tiny venue in downtown Seattle.

I rediscovered my long-lost love for the Ninja Turtles.

I spent my 21st birthday being rolled around in a wheelchair at Disney World by my crazy family.

I healed from a heartbreak that cast a dark shadow over most of 2013.

I fell in love with music again.

I rebuilt bridges that I had long since burned.

I learned how to feel comfortable in my own skin, again.

I rang in the New Year with new friends and also friends older than the flood- there was singing, dancing, glass-raising, hugging, and a love running very deep that can only be found in a group of people who have known each other for the longest time.

I spent the first day of 2015 back beside my favorite ocean, on my favorite stretch of northern Oregon coastline, with my closest friend and my sweet pup. The sun shone warm all day long, and the tunes were only the best of the best.

Unity happens in a lot of different ways. As I look back over 2014, I'm proud of the things we've all accomplished, and I'm excited for whatever journey 2015 brings to me. I'll gladly step out the door and get carried away on an adventure any day, and I hope that's exactly what 2015 will bring, a year full of adventures.

"For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice."
-T.S. Elliot.