Peace Out, TWO ZERO ONE SEVEN
- Dec 31, 2017
- 6 min read
I LOVE organization.
I LOVE highlighters, and washi tape, and fancy pens and planning.
I LOVE seeing my schedule, colour-coded and time-blocked, and knowing exactly where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be doing - knowing that I have things figured out.
Because I LOVE all of these things, I make sure to always have a super trendy, Instagram-worthy brand-spanking-new agenda book with me every January 1st - to keep track of my appointments, work meetings, trip itineraries, volunteer schedules, phone numbers, birthdays and blah blah blah. I've been using an agenda pretty religiously since I started college, and I *literally* bring it with me everywhere I go.
For the most part, it serves its purpose - it keeps me organized through the year, and as an added bonus, it makes me look like the grownup that I pretend to be. However, if there's one thing I've learned this year (and learned H A R D) it's that, try as you might - with fancy lettering or beautiful floral hardcover day planners, LIFE WILL RARELY GO AS PLANNED.
...but that's half the fun, right?!
2017 has been an insane year for me, and we're talking like, actually freaking insane. And because I feel like my memory is still a little fuzzy (you know, 2 concussions in 10 months...), I thought it'd be fun to take us all through a little rundown here of my 2017 before we all ring in the New Year.
This is going to be so exciting, are you so excited?! 😂
To recap:
January - started off with a bang!! and a crash...and my first headline news story since high school, and my first ever ambulance ride!! Fun fact: I had just travelled back to Kamloops by bus after New Years because I didn't want to risk getting into an accident by driving myself home for the holiday. Two days later, this happened...oh, the irony. If you missed it, you can read about that little doozy here. The month wasn't all bad, though. I had the opportunity to participate in the Women's March organized in Kamloops with my sweet Haley, and take a much-needed//forced break from my busy life. At the end of the month, I was even able to make another trip home to the island for physiotherapy, to buy a new car, and to spend some time recuperating with Team Dillon.
February - I turned 23!! And after 7 weeks of rest and rehabilitation, I was cleared to *finally* go back to work. Hallelujah. February was also the month that I became a fur-momma, with the adoption of my baby Beauregard the Bunny!!
March - March sucked. Since I was starting to feel better from my accident, I decided in March that it was time to be an adult and get all my medical//health ducks in a row. I got my eyes tested, booked a dental cleaning, and went to the doctor for a physical. During my routine lady-checkup, my lovely doctor found something "not so normal"...which meant a full month of blood tests, ultrasounds, pokes and prods, only to find a softball-sized mass inside of me that needed to be taken out sooner rather than later. Yaaayyyyy...
June - fast-forward through a few quiet months of recovering and working and couch-surfing, to me interviewing for and being offered a crazy new job. In Mackenzie. Like...what?! You can read about how that all happened here.
July - packed my life up into the hatchback and drove through ACTUAL WILDFIRE to get to my new home up north (I'm being dramatic, it was only smoke, but it was skeeeeetchy). Slept on the floor for a week because literally nothing ships up there quickly. Started my new rad job. Drooled over the mountains. Cried because I had no friends and no idea what I was getting myself into.
August - Jessica still has no friends in Mackenzie. Jessica texts boy whose number Chalace gave her "in case of emergency". Jessica meets boy, and boy is 😍😍😍.
September - September was a month for the record books, friends. At the beginning of the month, I drove myself back to Kamloops for a fun little visit with my people, my sister, and to have surgery to remove that tumour I told you about back in March. Surgery went well and the trip was great, but because I'm an idiot, I had some complications that really set me back (you can read about my grand epiphany and lesson in humility here). After another week I started to feel better, and planned a weekend adventure with my main girl Chalace for the end of the month. On my way to the Prince George airport at 3am, this super cute and totally-not-at-all-inconvenient moose decided to hog the highway and cause me to roll my car into a ditch...needless to say, I missed my flight, but I did still make it to PG. Just like...strapped to a bodyboard...
And remember that boy from August? He drove aaaaaaall the way back from Kelowna (that's like, not close, guys...) just to make sure I was okay and be with me in the hospital. Like, I was hysterical and high on morphine, and basically asleep or being grumpy and stubborn the whole time, but he was there for it all. AND he's still around!! I don't know about you, but *I* will be voting for him for the Best, Most Handsome Human of the Year Award. He deserves it.
October - I BOUGHT A HOUSE!! AND A PUPPY!! AND IT STARTS SNOWING ON THE FREAKING 12th OF THE MONTH BECAUSE I MOVED TO THE TUNDRA AND THIS IS MY LIFE NOW.
...like I said: insane. But as wild as it was, 2017 really has been my most challenging, most rewarding and most memorable year to date, and one that I'm so grateful for. Had any one thing happened differently, I wouldn't be where I am right now, and I just can't imagine my life today without all of the wonderful things and people and experiences that 2017 gave me!!
Part of me is *really* glad to see it finally coming to an end, but part of me is actually a little bummed that 2017 is almost over.
...because like, how the HECK will 2018 possibly measure up?!
If you take a scroll back up to the top of this post, you'll see a photo of the pretty 2018 planner that I bought back in August, in preparation for the new year. When I crashed my car in September, literally everything that was inside of the car went F L Y I N G onto the highway and into the ditch, *planner included*, and I definitely was NOT in any position to run around and try to pick up the pieces.
After being released from the hospital and making my way back to Mackenzie, I had two clear plastic bags filled with my belongings, covered in mud and shards of glass, waiting for me at home. I'll be honest - it took me a couple days to get up the guts to go through all of the stuff, but when I finally did, I was shocked to find my planner, a little banged up and dirty, but really no worse for wear. I wiped it off, shook the gravel out of the pages, and it was basically good as new.
And I can't help but recognize how conveniently accurate an analogy it was to my 2017:
This year threw me through loop after loop - sending me flying head-first across the highway and back again. There were times that I didn't think I was going to make it (literally) but in the end, I was able to just wipe myself off, shake the gravel and the glass from my hair, and carry on into 2018 a little banged up, but really no worse for wear.
Like I said; life rarely goes as planned. But I think a lot of the time, even when it turns out different from what we expected, life ends up even better. It feels great to be organized, and to have goals and resolutions all neatly highlighted on the calendar, but at the end of the day, at the end of the year, the most important and special memories will be found in the unscheduled, unexpected, and unplanned moments of our lives. Those are the times that we grow, and learn, and open ourselves up to love and happiness and experience and all the new things ahead.
So I propose a toast: to 2017 - thank you for, in the wise words of Yeezy, making me harder, better, faster, stronger. For making me a little wiser, and little more courageous. For teaching me some hard lessons, and for reminding me often why I do what I do.
And to 2018 - you have some seriously huge boots to fill, I think we're all looking forward to seeing what you've got in store.
All the love,
as always,
Jessica*.
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