Barbara's Random Thoughts

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

One Year

Saturday, October 23rd marked the one-year anniversary of my move to the Bay area. I celebrated by throwing a housewarming party with my roommate Julie. And so, Saturday was a blur of cleaning and preparing, running around making sure the party was going as planned, and then finally sitting down to enjoy some games and conversation with good friends. Then afterwards, I had some good hangout time with all my roommates. But the day didn't offer much opportunity for reflection, so last night I sat down and tried to pull some thoughts together. And I'm posting this today in honor of another little milestone--a year ago today was my first day of work up here.

The past year has been full of beginnings--new people, new places, new experiences. I settled into a new job in a new place. I found a church. I made some awesome friends, both at work and at church. I even got promoted! It's been quite a year. And I appreciate it all the more now, looking back, because of the unexpected blessing it's been.

A year ago, I wasn't sitting around thinking about what the next year would hold. I had no idea what this year would hold, so I tried not to think about it. I'm not overly fond of the unknown. So many people commented how they admired me for doing this, said how brave I was, how exciting to see me stepping out in faith in such a way. And none of that made much sense to me. I honestly don't think I thought this all through before I did it. The job opportunity came, it was in the industry I wanted, it was on the West coast, so I took the job and moved. I'd always said I wanted to leave SoCal, after all.

I got here and tackled one thing at a time, like a checklist: Find an apartment. Learn the new job. Find my way around. Find a church. Meet people. Make friends. I got through each day, one at a time, and tried hard not to look back. I didn't realize before I did this how hard it would be to make a new place home, to find a community here. But here I was, so that's what I did.

And now it's been a year. Looking back, even at Saturday's party, I'm blown away by who came, and by how many really great people have become my friends. And by what this past year has held for me. It hasn't come easily. I do miss my friends and family in SoCal. And I'm still building friendships and a community here. It takes time. But as I look back, and as I look around me, I feel so thankful to be where I am.

Here's to next year.
| posted by Barbara | 7:01 PM