2015: The Year of Change

Everything has changed. 

If I had to sum up my entire year in one sentence, that’d be it. Sure, every year comes with its surprises, twists, and turns, but 2015 was exceptional in that regard. My circumstances changed. My lifestyle changed. My faith changed. I changed.

Some of them were good. Others not so much. Still others were painful, yet good sprang out of them.

Here’s just a few of the things that characterized my year.

1. I became a (partial) vegetarian

This was somewhat of a New Year’s Resolution for me. I didn’t want to give up meat completely, but I wanted to cut back significantly, eating it only once per week. I eat it less frequently than that, I’d say. So overall, it’s been a success.

2. I interned through Women at Risk, International

My first experience with an office job was a great one! Every Monday, Thursday, and Friday, I would drive to the headquarters and hammer away at a keyboard for a few hours. It wasn’t perfect—no job is—but it was something I truly enjoyed as a whole. Best part was, I used my skills to potentially help women.

3. I grieved the loss of Rascal

He passed away 10 days before Christmas, so naturally a very significant part of my year was spent grieving the loss of our Cairn Terrier. Maybe you’ve already noticed, but I grieved a great deal through my writing. It was like his ghost haunted me, compelling me to write until the words ran dry. For a class, I wrote an essay about him, one I like enough to try sending into the publishing world. (New Year’s Resolution: give publishing a shot!)

4. We adopted Lily

Close to a year after losing Rascal, we adopted a new furry companion, a Miniature Schnauzer named Lily. My love for her abounds like you wouldn’t believe.

5. I rediscovered my faith

I remember sitting in that red chair in the living room several autumns ago, avoiding my parents’ eyes as I tearily told them, “I’m not sure I want to be a Christian anymore.” All my life, Christianity had brought me pain, so part of me was sick of it; yet I was too scared to let go. My dad suggested I “put it on the shelf” for a bit. So that’s what I did. I strongly believed that if I were to ever return, my faith would look radically different. My prediction was absolutely right. It’s been a process, but now I have re-embraced my religion. And it’s finally giving me peace.

6. I graduated from college

Another huge milestone was finishing my formal schooling completely and graduating from Grand Valley. It was also somewhat bittersweet, as I wasn’t sure where life would take me at the time. But that soon changed because…

7. I got a great job

After an exhausting month of submitting résumés and cover letters, I got hired as a blog writer for GreaterGood.com. That’s a huge blessing for me; whenever anyone asked what I was planning to do with my writing degree, I answered “magazine writing or writing for a nonprofit.” And while GreaterGood isn’t technically a nonprofit, they do a lot of philanthropic work, so it feels like one!

8. I got a car

I never wrote about this, did I? Well, one of the not-so-good events of the year was getting into a crash and totaling my parents’ car. On the bright side, I got a car that I could safely call mine. This beautiful, 2006 Toyota Solara is named the CARDIS. Say hello, everyone!

9. I wrestled with my health

I’m not done yet. But by the grace of God and the help of treatment, I’m coming out victorious.

10. I got a smartphone

As you may have read in my last post, my old phone with a physical keyboard died on me. So I jumped on the smartphone bandwagon.

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This is, of course, a very surface-level description. There were more changes. There were sub events within these larger events.

And from it all, I learned a lot. Like…

• I’m stronger than I once believed
• Eggplant gyros in Seattle are the bomb.com
• Paper cranes are fun to make
• I actually prefer traditional churches to modern ones
• It’s really not worth it to drive aggressively
• Someone new doesn’t replace someone you lost; rather, your heart expands to let the new one in
• I’m smarter than I sometimes give myself credit for
• The word stelliferous (“having or abounding with stars”)
• Autism is a spectrum disorder
• Whose Line Is It, Anyway? is hilarious
• I need to ask for help when I’m not okay

(I hope you just learned something from that list, too!)

So what’s next? That’s a bit more of a mystery this year than it was last year; I already knew I had a lot of changes lined up for me. This year, however, I’m only certain that I’m going to look into moving out of my parents’ house. Which will be a huge change in and of itself.

Otherwise, I don’t know. And that’s what’s so fun and terrifying about New Year’s Eve. It’s the one day of the year where you are compelled to contemplate the past and speculate about the future. But whatever happens, I know I’ll get through it.

Source: GIPHY

What’s New in the Wonderful World of Allison

Hi, there! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? But it’s okay because I’m about to make up for it. Two new and exciting things have happened in my life that I wanted to share with you.

We got a dog

I mentioned this briefly in my last post but never told the whole story.

As you may remember, we had to put Rascal down a little over a year ago. For quite a while, we were dog-less with no intentions of getting another one. But we eventually learned that wasn’t much of an option; life wasn’t the same without a furry, four-legged family member in our home.

So my mom started looking. It took months, but we finally discovered a 7-year-old Schnauzer named Lily who was up for adoption. She was kept in the loving home of an older couple until one got cancer and the other got Alzheimer’s. At that point, she was in an assisted living facility with her owners and, unfortunately, essentially got neglected because they could no longer care for her.

She was brought into foster care with her 15-year-old sister, Lizzy (Lizzy and Lily—isn’t that adorable?). When my mom first inquired, they didn’t want to separate the two. But they soon changed their minds and brought Lily over to our house to meet us. We liked her and she liked us, so our final decision was an easy one.

The rest is history; we’re smitten with our little sweetheart, and she’s smitten with us. She has not replaced Rascal and never will, but our hearts have expanded to let her in.

I got a smartphone

Yeah, yeah—go ahead and comment about how I’m finally living in the modern world. I know; I’m 22 and yet I’m so old.

The thing was, I simply didn’t need a new phone until a couple weeks ago. The summer before my senior year of high school, I got my first cell phone, a Samsung Seek™ that had an actual, physical keyboard. By modern standards, it was pretty basic. It could text, take photos, set alarms, and get internet access if I wanted to wait an eon for it to load. But it was a phone, and it was reliable.

Then one Friday at work, I called home and found that the battery was really, really low. I was shocked because I’d just charged it the night before. But this was its new reality, I soon learned. I could charge it all I liked, but the second I unplugged it, the battery would show up as being in the red zone.

I didn’t know exactly what was wrong. All I knew was that my loyal phone was on its last leg after over eight years.

The timing was actually perfect, because I’d already been contemplating buying a smartphone. Not having one was turning into a real pain because the world had evolved to such a point that they were integrated into society.

So one week ago today, my dad took me to our local Sprint store. It was there that I purchased an iPhone 6. It was an eye-opening experience: I finally understood the hype behind smartphones. My iPhone could do so many things and was so sleek and responsive to my touch. And the camera, man! Both photos uploaded to this post are from my iPhone, and it’s stunning how crisp and clear they turn out every time—which is significant because I have very shaky hands.

As you can see, I got a TARDIS case for it as an early Christmas present. And just today, I fulfilled a quirky dream by setting my text ringtone as the TARDIS sound and my phone ringtone as the Doctor Who Series 4 theme.

So for the time being, I consider my iPhone customization to be complete.

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My next post on this blog will probably be my annual, New Year’s Eve reflection. This has been one heck of a year, so stay tuned!