Its a new holiday, one Hallmark has no rights to! 3-2-1 Day. One year ago, Tom & I got engaged in Nagoya, Japan. Above is a photo of Hikone castle, outside of which he'd planned to propose. It was as grey and chilly as it is here today and I didn't have the faintest idea he had a plan.
And what a year. In the last 365 days, I've been to Tibet, left my preschool job in Tokyo and my friends & life (& favorite foods!) in Japan, moved in with my parents for 6 months, and gone back to school. I worked at Starbucks. ;) I went on a whirlwind road trip from Seattle with Brook and my friend Tomoko, through Portland, Bandon (to see Uncle Bill), Northern California, San Francisco (seeing Jaclyn and Melissa and the Schmidt crew minus Scott), to Los Angeles (to see Scott, Angela, and Bob Barker) and then to Colorado to meet up with the rest of our family to say goodbye to my grandfather on a hike in the mountains. Tom finally moved back, started his new job, and together we purchased our first house and began slowly moving our stuff to Michigan. I ran a marathon. (what was I thinking??). We had Thanksgiving with more gathered family than I had previously ever met. We got married and celebrated with all of our family and most of our friends (including some from both our Japanese families) at the most incredible, joy-filled, rocking party I've ever been to. We went to Mexico (and breathed). Tom went home. I took finals. I moved from one home to my home. My grandpa died. We drove to Milwaukee for a chance to be thankful for him, being together as family again, and for having had the wedding as our last happy moment together. Somehow, Christmas came, 2007 appeared, Tom & I went running at DisneyWorld, and I started school again, at another new school, full time for the first time in 6 years. We dog-sat for a few weeks, Jaclyn got married, Tom ran a marathon. And its the end of March again!
What a year! What a change in lifestyle! I miss my life of last year, but in the same way I miss being at St. Olaf. I love my new life and I love that it is (excuse the metaphor) a puzzle that I get to put together with Tom. I had to figure Chicago and Japan out all on my own (and loved doing so) but now I'm ready to ask for help, to be supported, and to be there for someone else. It feels really good to be a team and to have my best friend *here* E-ver-y Day. I'm so, so thankful we finally reached the point where we could both be flexible enough to figure out how to connect our crazy lives! And it has been a lot of fun.
This next year? I don't know if it could possibly be as dramatic as the last, and I think that's a good thing. I'm looking forward to finishing my first full time semester and completing all the "hoop jumping" required to get my teaching certificate. Tom is still creating a fulfilling position for himself at work. We'll face our first major health procedure at the end of May as we hope to get Tom's esophagus issues fixed for good. We'll run more, we'll travel more, and we will continue to politely disagree on who will be The Next American Idol (I tell ya, if he votes for Sanjaya one more time it might be separate beds...). I just can't believe how fast the time goes and it amazes me how much our lives have changed.
What a great trip!
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