2004 has come and gone, and I am glad it is behind me.
This year has been pretty crazy for sure, and I would say that it has been a relatively unenjoyable year for me.
2004 is the year...
I turned 22-years-old.
I graduated from University of Florida with a Bachelors of Arts in Business Administration.
I enrolled in Reformed Theological Seminary to pursue a Masters of Divinity.
I said goodbye to some really great friends.
I spent four months working with The Southwestern Company.
I flipped my 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee on its head.
I wrecked the Yandre's Nissan 4Runner.
I received a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica from my parents.
I watched four hurricanes miss, nearly miss, and then hit my state.
I finally voted in a Presidential election.
I lived in three different cities through the year spending almost exactly a third of the year in each.
January -- April 30: Gainesville, FL.
May -- late August: Scottsboro, AL.
September -- December: Oviedo, FL.
I finally got to see the Red Sox win the world series.
My High School finally won the state title in Varsity soccer after going to the final four roughly seven out of the last ten years.
I started working as an associate with the Panera Bread Company on October 20th.
On October 30th, I asked Joy Lynn Mueller to marry me on May fifth, 2005.
Insurgents flocked to Iraq to wage guerilla warfare against occupying US troops.
My grandmother died.
My brother spent his first Christmas away from our family to be with his girlfriend in Latvia.
Ukraine's second Presidential election is rerun by order of their supreme court, and the dioxin poisoned candidate Vickto Yushchenko wins convincingly.
An earthquake measuring 9.0 on the richtor scale caused a tsunami which affected over a dozen nations boardering the Indian Ocean killing what I think will end up being over half a million people.
A lot has happened in the past year for me and for the entire world. I changed a lot and so has Joy. I think that 2004 had a huge impact on me in ways that will be good in the long term even though most of them were hard through the short term. It was generally a tumultuous year for me and I feel like the weather relfected it even as it contributed to the constant fluctuations in my life. I lived in three different cities throughout the year. I evacuated for three hurricanes. Southwestern itself is a whirlwind of activity, learning experiences, and emotional difficulties. I had my first and my second car accidents within eight days of each other during the experience, and that is just the easiest thing to mention. I proposed marriage for the first and only time.
In 2005 I have plans to be married which should be good both in the short term and the long term. Things look like they will be much more stable for me personally this year. I should stay in the same city for the entire year, though I will be visiting Gainesville and Fort Myers frequently. However, the second half of the year could be quite unstable as I adjust to living with just one person and all the other things that will come with marriage.
Other than the marriage, I can't really predict too much for 2005. I think that I will still be working at Panera and going to school at RTS, but even that can change quite quickly and throw me back into the constant flux that was 2004.
Posted by David at January 2, 2005 04:00 AMWhat 2004 had to offer, at least in my interpretation, was change. Perhaps it's not entirely all that visible, but I feel as if I've had a lot of sizable shifts this year, and perhaps 2005 will be the year I will work towards acting and living the results of those changes.
I must say David, that though we were sadly parted in 2004, I also got to know you in that same year, and for that, the year was very gracious and generous to me. Here's wishing us the best of years in 2005...
KIT :-)
Posted by: JennyJ at January 2, 2005 04:01 PMWow. I hadn't really thought back on the whole year til now. What a difference. Look at where we all are in different places now. It's quite amazing and depressing at the same time.
I think that this is going to be an awesome and hard year for you David. It's going to be the best times of your life and some of the worst. There will be times when you love being married and times when you wonder what on earth possessed you to desire such a thing. Yet you will grow stronger through all of those times. The love that you and Joy have will become deeper and more intimate. The level of your connection will be indescribable. It will be hard, but it wouldn't be any fun if it was easy. It wouldn't be worthwhile if you didn't have to work for it and at it.
I see that this year for you is going to be one of the best years yet. Take heart for God has great plans in store for you. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans that bring hope and a future.
JB
Posted by: Jessica at January 2, 2005 11:59 PM