25 in 365

Today, I sit writing from my Grandpas living room in Battle Creek, MI. My 25^th birthday strikes in about 30 minutes and I can’t help but sit here happily thinking about all that I have to be grateful for in my 25 years of life. I’m thankful to say that I’ve made it another year. With everything going on in the world, the only guarantee is that we have no guarantee. But we can make a promise to ourselves to remain strong, happy, and healthy. Even though the world around us might be spinning mad right now, we still are in control of ourselves and have the power to make each day exactly what we need it to be. 

As I reflect on the last year of my life I am going to share 25 highlights from the last 365 days. 

–July 7^th 2019: I went horseback riding with my boyfriend, brother, and best friend at Stateline Stables to celebrate my birthday. 

–July 12^th 2019: My boyfriend and I moved into our first place together. 

–July 19^th 2019: I hosted a bachelorette weekend for my longtime friend/college roommate to celebrate her upcoming marriage.

–August 3^rd 2019: My family and I went downtown to Kalamazoo’s Ribfest and had the best fried salami sandwich from Beer Exchange. 

–August 13^th 2019: I picked my first tomato from my very first tomato plant.

–August 17^th 2019: My family and I spent a beautiful weekend in Holland celebrating the marriage of my two dear friends. 

–September 14^th 2019: I started a new job in a healthy professional environment and met Alyssa Waid who would soon become one of my closest friends. 

–September 21^st 2019: My brother moved to Royal Oak and I threw him a surprise going away party. 

–October 17^th 2019: I got 2 new tattoos that I love.

–October 26^th 2019: I dressed as Violet Beauregarde and celebrated Halloween in Royal Oak with my brother and his neighbors and some good friends of mine. 

–November 19^th 2019: My boyfriend and I decorated our first Christmas tree together as a couple in our new place. 

–November 22^nd 2019: I got a perm. 

–December 27^th 2019: My mom, brother, and I went to Chicago to visit a family friend and spent time catching up and walking around the city. 

–January 11^th 2020: I went to visit my best friend Taylor in Chicago and had my first experience at Soul Cycle. 

–January 27^th 2020: I celebrated my boyfriend’s birthday with him before heading to Vegas for a work trip where he would meet me for the weekend. 

-February 2^nd 2020: Watched the Super Bowl at a huge outdoor party in Las Vegas with my dad, brother, boyfriend, and my dads two best friends after enjoying a long weekend goofing around on the strip together. 

–February 9^th 2020: My mom and I went to a PYM Galentine’s brunch in Grand Rapids and then went to see Hamilton at DeVos. 

–February 21^st 2020: My dad, boyfriend, friend, and I went to a spur of the moment KWings game and had an incredible time. 

–February 29^th 2020: Alyssa and I traveled to LA for a work trip together and later that day, had easily one of the best meals I’ve ever had at Nick and Stef’s DTLA. 

–March 2^nd 2020: I went on a sunset horseback riding tour of the Hollywood sign at Sunset Ranch in Hollywood. 

–April 22^nd 2020: My boyfriend and I brought home our handsome little prince Bruno and immediately fell in love with him and have been obsessing over him since then. 

–May 1-31^st 2020: I literally spent the entire month of May training my puppy, watching him sleep, taking way too many pictures of him and learning how to be a good dog mom. 

–June 12^th 2020: The PYM girls had a weekend retreat at Torch Lake that was so well needed and such perfect timing for all of us.

–June 27^th 2020: I went to Royal Oak for the first time since December to spent the weekend with my brother going to Somerset, taking Bruno for walks, and spending way too much BDAY money at IKEA.

–July 6^th 2020: My mom and I went horseback riding in Allegan and then met my grandma and brother for a birthday lunch. Afterwards, me and Bruno drove to Battle Creek to eat steak and spend the night with my grandpa to bring my birthday in with him. 

When I look at all of the highlights from my last 365 days I notice a theme…everything that brought me joy last year revolved around spending time with people that I care about, doing things with them to build a stronger bond. Most of the things that meant the most to me last year were not wild moments. They were the everyday moments like going out to dinner and catching up with a friend or starting a new job. Not zip lining through the tropics overseas or doing something crazy and spontaneous. Although I love doing those things, it brings me happiness knowing that regardless of how exciting my year may have seemed, the moments that stand out to me the most are the times spent with the people that I love. 

Even though we are in the middle of what seems like the scariest year of our lives, taking the time to reflect on the good that we still have is powerful. Even during the state that the world is in right now, so many highlights in my year have happened over the last few months. I know that not everyone can say the same. But I challenge you to take a step back and think of a few things that have happened since March 2020 that have positively impacted your life or even just simply made you smile.