A New Year, A New Beginning

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Quite a while ago, I began contemplating how I measure time. The thought was born of a line from a favourite song, "Seasons Of Love", which is in a musical I've never seen, Rent. The line simply asks, how do you measure a year?

I've realised that I measure several years throughout the calendar year. About 11-12 days ago, I measured the year since I proposed to Gretch and she said yes. Not too long ago I marked the fourth year since I returned home from my mission in California. There are the years I've been in school, the years I've been alive, and the years since I first started using the Internet (about 14 now, I believe).

Rarely, though, do I mark a year on the first day of January. In fact, I cannot think of a single memorable event that has occurred in my life that took place on 1 January. And yet, here I am, recognising today as the first day of the calendar year, and thinking that this is a good reflect on the year past and the year to come.

In the past year, I have successfully completed my full-time student teaching and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I began working for Simply Spotless, Inc. I got married. I honeymooned in California, driving across the continental United States for the first time (rather than riding as a passenger). I missed the Illinois Teen Institute through a miscommunication. I finished my long-time career as a Class B Food Service Worker for University Housing: Dining Services. (Now is that an awesome job title or what?) I had a half dozen job interviews, and failed to find full-time employment in Champaign USD 4. I began working as a substitute teacher in said Champaign Unit 4. I travelled for holidays, saw my little sister in her first high school musical, missed a dozen or so weddings (but managed to make it to most of the receptions), have read dozens of books, watched hundreds of movies, and listened to thousands of songs. All in all, I would say that the past year has been a wonderful one. Ups and downs, and all arounds, but a wonderful year.

And now, with the new year before us, I cannot possibly imagine all the possibilities. Life is full of choices and opportunities. Some I will grab, some I will miss. Some I will be grateful for taking, and some I will probably regret. But, through it all, I know that I will be leading the life that I choose to lead, with my wife by my side, my family and friends all around, and these thoughts in my mind:

"The choices we make dictate the lives we lead." ~Danny DeVito (in "Renaissance Man")

"Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen." ~Peter Marshall

"There are no happy endings, because nothing ends." ~Alan Arkin (in "The Last Unicorn)

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