Pleased to meet you, 2013!

Another year has come and gone, as has a visit from my family!  I'm always especially more aware of how quiet my place is right after the Pancakes leave it, so I shall take this moment to commemorate the old year and welcome the new one with Lord of the Rings playing in the background!  (I'll be watching that a lot in the weeks to come to tide me over until The Hobbit comes out on DVD... the movie theater has been making a lot of money off of me!)

Anyway, in all seriousness...

2012 held my first semester at the University of Iowa... Which I thoroughly enjoyed despite the challenges that came with it!  It was also a great year getting to know my friends here in Iowa City, a journey that I am looking forward to continuing in 2013.  I also got to watch my family grow in so many more ways than one this year as each of them have been entering new seasons of life including (but not limited to) caring for grandparents, going through high school, buying houses, and being pregnant!  I seriously can't wait for the little one to arrive so I can be Crazy Aunt Kaycee!

My little brother asked each of us to list our top five memorable moments of 2012, and I'm pretty sure that my top one was pushing the EMT out of my way to go hug my Daddy the night of my car accident on I-80.  Speaking of which, I had my last chiropractor appointment, so aside from the formal signing off of papers, I can officially and with painful eagerness leave all things car accident in 2012 where they belong!

And now, I stand on the brink of 2013.  Honestly, from here, it sure does look an awful lot like 2012, which in some ways kind of saps the New Years nostalgia that I usually love oh so very much about this holiday.  I'll be working in the same place, just new kiddos from time to time.  More school, though probably still one class at a time.  Weekend trips (hopefully NOT involving Ryder trucks on the interstate!), making friends, quiet apartment with my fur baby, most likely a move in the summer, but that part's pretty scary to think about because--as much help as this place needs--I really and truly DON'T want to move... But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Really, I'll cross every bridge when I come to it.  I mean, I have thus far, right?

Maybe there will be some special boy involved somehow in 2013, but maybe there won't.  There probably will be tough, lonely times like the ones that seem to enjoy visiting every time school goes on break.  But there will also be fun times.  There will be writing and reading, there will be laughter and tears.  It's gonna be a tough year, and it's gonna drive me nuts at times.

But it'll be okay, because God and I have got this!

And who knows?  Maybe twelve months from now, 2013 and I will be friends :)