By Polymath38 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
I don’t remember my first birthday. Based on photos and eyewitness accounts, I know that I got covered in cake, smiled a lot, and that I still had very little hair. Like me at one year old, this blog is a bit messy and weird-looking, but I’m still super excited about it.
One year can be a long time or a short time. If you’re holding a squat or seeing how long you can stay awake, one year is impossible. If you’re trying to avoid getting any older, one year will fly past you with a roll of its eyes.
When I started Girl in the World, my main goal was to keep going. As my domain and hosting payments came due, and I renewed them, I realized that this was the first time I had ever done that. Which means that a year is the longest I have ever stuck with a url. Do I hear wedding bells? And while my posts have been a little sparse lately, I’m still writing them. (I’m just going to keep congratulating myself until someone pops a cork and throws confetti at me.)
With anniversaries in mind, allow me to reminisce a little bit about this past year.
1. Sleeping arrangements.
When I wrote the first post, I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of my room because I was supposed to be repainting my bed frame, but had left it at my ex’s house (my ex whose shirt I was still sleeping in, because we had just broken up and I was a little bit weepy). Right now, I’m sleeping in a camp/house (it makes sense when you see one) in the middle of nowhere. (Kind of ironically, in my ex’s shirt, because it’s become a grubby shirt and thus suitable for dirty field work, and not because I’m a crazy weirdo). But my bed frame is repainted and reconstructed and back in my room -no more floors!
2. Broken bones.
A year ago, I didn’t have any, and I don’t now, but I did for awhile there in the middle, and it seriously limited my outdoor adventures.
3. Vehicles.
I’m still driving the Honda. Hopefully this year, I’ll trade it in for something equally old but more hardcore reliable.
4. Relationships.
Somehow, being single hasn’t gotten old yet. It’s not quite as manically exciting as it was a year ago, but I still have a voice in the back of my head whisper-yelling, “Yay!” I’ve also been very lucky to spend lots of QT with my amazing friends, who are dropping like flies to parenthood by the minute (but who are still super-awesome).
5. Trips.
This year, I managed a fair number of trips, despite the ones that got cancelled because of broken backs. I had an Ontario autumn, which are the best, and spent thanksgiving climbing and running in Skaha. I moved very gingerly around Red Rocks and Quebec in the spring. I got a fair amount of hiking in this summer and managed to ski trees without crying this past winter. Some surf trips to Tofino and Oregon also happened. What I missed were the hot springs, so that is the plan for this coming shoulder season. Honda be damned.
6. To sum it all up…
I think it’s been a pretty good year, actually. I’m so glad to have had you along for the ride! In fact, I’d like to say a big, warm-hugs-and-handshakes THANK YOU for all the support and love and reading time you’ve given me this year. I truly appreciate it all.
Because it’s not just about me, I’d like to ask what you want to read. Should I do more (/better) trip reports? Links to other fun/helpful blogs/websites? Profiles of inspiring people? Rambling stream-of-consciousness musings? Something entirely different (because you’re way more creative than I am)? Please let me know in the comments!! (I would love to see something other than “louis vuitton handbags cheap” in my moderation list! (Maybe that should have been one of my September goals.) So, talk to me! It would be the best first birthday gift ever!