A New Year

Dear 2010,

I'm a list person. I've always been a list person. Which might make you think that in writing lists obsessively in my phone, on post-its, in notebooks, on white-boards, and on random receipts, I would make "New Years" resolutions lists. False. I never have and probably never have. Instead, I seem to have a never-ending, always growing, continually changing list divided into two categories: goals and aspirations that I dream of happening and work everyday towards and things that could happen any day that don't happen because I'm scared of it or because I haven't made it happen. And in reconciling with the idea of yet another year ending, I mentally check off items from the list and asses the year in how many things were completed. Well, 2010, you happen to have been a very busy list-overtaking year. In both aspects of futuristic goals and things to try, which is a rare happening.

This year I: tried peas (nom nom nom), went on a roller coaster (for real), made a pen pal (try four), tried cheesecake (and loved it), labeled a relationship (8 months, babyy), attempted water-skiing (and failed), killed my own spider (not fun), quit stealing my sisters clothes (seriously), talked to cashiers (still scary, at times), had a job interview (fml), went to a foreign country without my parents and subjected myself to their food (<3), had a slumberparty (....seriously), watched Gilmore Girls and Lost from pilot to end again (maybe one of my only renewable items on the list), survived calculus (and then came Chemistry), graduated High School (eeeep), went to college (bigger eeeep), finished a semester of college (ouch), went to a Josh Ritter concert (definitely a highlight of the year), stood in line for hours for something ridiculous (thank you, Eclipse), bought a dress from Modcloth (three!), wore skirts and dresses to school...regularly (yayy!), learned how to do laundry (so. so. fun), kept my dorm room clean (new passion), learned how to use photoshop (best class ever), made new friends unawkwardly (okay, most of it was awkward), learned how to drive stick (mastered), avoided getting sick(until the last two days of the year...but it still counts!), obsessed over skype (yes), cut my bangs (I miss them), hosted an exchange student (favorite), turned 18 (Wyoming style), smooched (nuff said), learned how to charge my phone overnight and not in fifteen minute stints all day long (finally) bought every member of my family a Christmas present (finally achieved), and figured out how to put music onto my phone (so I don't lose my iPod...again).

All in all, I liked you 2010. And I liked you a lot. Call it an elementary crush, but remembering you will always make me giddy and silly. Everyone told me going into my senior year of High School that it was going to be the best year of my life, but who wants to hear that? Certainly, I didn't, who wanted to finish High School as painlessly as possible and just. Get. To. College. Asap. However, I'm so happy that you ended up being so much more than just a "filler" year. And as sappy as it was, you really were the best year I've had yet. Thank you for the best graduation ever and a myriad of "first" experiences to lock in my memory bank forever. Everything seemed to come together this year in a way I wasn't expecting. I'm happier now than I've ever been. 2011 won't have the same milestones, but nonetheless, I only hope to continue with what lovely things 2010 brought.




Love,
Maggie