Let me annoy you by being cliche and stating that “I can’t believe 2017 went by so quickly.” 🙂
But really, 2017 felt like a WHIRLWIND for me. Personally, my year was filled with good health (well, for the most part), great adventures and even greater people. I worked through the hard knocks and challenges, and feel content that I was able to grow through most of those experiences. Looking at the world around me, it would be wrong to ignore that 2017 was certainly a hard year, but I choose to believe that this world is full of good people who aim to make 2018 better.
Looking back, I’d probably summarize 2017 as bittersweet. It’s a strange feeling to recognize being both happy and sad, and even more strange to be relatively OK with it. I met someone that became really special to me, and I did not expect that I would end 2017 not knowing if that person would be in my life going into the new year. At first I struggled with writing a year in review at all, or including him in it, but this blog is first and foremost my journal and scrapbook, and cherry picking memories is not my style. And regardless if our time is done, those memories are still very special to me.
Around mid-December, I was sitting at CVS waiting to get my flu shot and was flipping through a GQ magazine and stopped at an interview with Senator John McCain. Regardless of whether you agree with his politics or not, in my mind its pretty hard to not acknowledge or respect that he has seen a fair amount of adversity in his lifetime. With that in mind, the very last statement really struck me:
No matter what 2017 held or what is yet to come in 2018, I hope that we can all benefit from walking through life with that attitude. I know I am going to try.
Now let’s look back at my busy year…
**********
In 2017, I traveled to 2 countries and 6 states (and two of them twice!)…
In February, I went on a trip of a lifetime to Bangkok, Thailand, and Manila, Philippines. The first half of my trip was a work trip to accompany three U.S. wheat farmers on a board team experience. The second half of the trip was spent on vacation in Bangkok and Phuket with my grandparents and Great Aunt Diane. Find all of my posts about the trip HERE.
That trip won the year when it came to travel, but it wasn’t my only one. In April, Sam and I went down to Blacksburg to visit my friend Chelsea for the Virginia Tech spring game. In May, I went to Estes Park, Colorado for my work World Staff Conference. I invited my Mom to join me for the week and we spent a few extra days hiking and enjoying quick visits with friends. In June, I traveled to Manhattan, Kansas for the National Festival of Bread and squeezed in some friend time again. At the beginning of July, I made the short drive over to Annapolis, Maryland (for the first time!) for my work summer board meeting. Sam joined me a day before the meeting and we explored the downtown area. At the end of July, I attended the Agriculture Media Summit in Snowbird, Utah. In August, I went home to Oregon and finally took my best friend Megan with me to show her where I grew up. Next, I traveled to Kansas City, Missouri in November for the AFA Alliance Forum and the National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s Trade Talk event. In between the two events, I spent a few days down in Wichita, Kansas to visit Megan. Finally, I rounded out the year in December with a trip home to Oregon for Christmas.
In 2017, I continued to work in a job that gives me purpose…
In March, I celebrated two years with U.S. Wheat Associates and was promoted to Assistant Director of Communications in July. My goal has always been to work in a job I love, that challenges me and pushes me to become a better communicator, and to use those skills working for farmers. Thankfully, all of that continues to ring true for me.
In 2017, my family welcomed Sawyer June…
After 23 years, my sister and I finally have an Ego cousin! Sawyer June joined our family on July 13 and its safe to say that she has stole the spotlight. Shortly, after she was born I wrote her this love letter. Oh, and #sorrynosorry that she has taken over my Instagram…
In 2017, my Grammy and Grampy visited me in Washington, D.C…
In October, my grandparents came for four days to visit me and experience Washington, D.C. They were actually the ones who helped move from Kansas to D.C. almost three years ago now (what!?) but we didn’t have the time for any site-seeing. I have a really special relationship with my grandparents so I was so excited to finally share my current home with them.
In 2017, I learned that adult friendships are hard, but so very important…
I think that one of the hardest things about being a 20-something is friendship. Everyone’s lives are so busy and usually full of change, and while I think that is awesome, it tends to take a toll. It is hard to be there for that college friend who now lives across the country instead of down the hallway, and while you might have so many great memories with childhood friends, it can be hard to connect with them when you are no longer in the same stage of life. And then there is the challenge of attempting to make new adult friends, which I swear is equal to the ups and downs of dating 🙂 But I’ve learned this year, especially, that friendship requires a whole lot of grace. Some people are in your life for only a season, and that’s OK. And some people are in for the long haul, but sometimes they’ll have more to give and sometimes they’ll need more from you. I am thankful for both types of friends in 2017, who filled my days with fun memories and were supportive, sometimes when I least expected it.
In 2017, I filled my days with celebrations, new experiences, things that I love and both big and small moments worth remembering…
- Continued to explore DC and Northern Virginia and fall in love with it over and over again.
- Attended the Presidential Inauguration.
- After returning from my trip to South Asia, I spent three weeks being sicker than I have ever been in my life. We never quite figured out what was wrong, but the good thing is I made a full recovery, and now I know more about platelets than I ever cared to know.
- Celebrated another National Ag Day with my friend Nicole.
- My family lost our pup Ellie.
- Continued to enjoy the fellowship of my church small group.
- Built an awesome outdoor couch for my balcony.
- Had a busy, fun-filled summer with lots of travel, trips to farmer’s markets, cheering on the Washington Nationals, wineries and hiking with the girls and more.
- Saw Reckless Kelly, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Turnpike Troubadours, Chris Stapleton and Aaron Watson in concert.
- Had an event filled 4th of July weekend with fireworks at Mount Vernon, a beer festival and rounding out the weekend relaxing with friends.
- Celebrated turning 27.
- Cheered on my K-State Wildcats on lazy fall Saturday watch parties
- Was selected to serve my peers and continue my involvement with Agriculture Future of America as the new Vice Chair of the AFA Alliance Planning Committee for the next two years.
- My family celebrated our flower shop’s 30th anniversary.
- Enjoyed a fun and laid-back Friendsgiving in with DC with Kansas transplants.
- One of my childhood best friend’s welcomed her second little bundle, Callie Elizabeth, on December 13.
Peace out 2017, here’s to believing the best is yet to come in 2018.
P.S. Because I always include music at the end of my Year in Review posts… and because my love for Ed Sheeran knows no limits 🙂
Discover more from ajae communications
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
ajae communications 
Oh friend – I think 2017 looked like a GREAT year. I’m sorry it had a bit of sadness at the end – but I think you posted about it quite well. Cheering you on in 2018 – and know that everything happens for a reason, and sometimes it sucks getting thru a bump, but trust me you’ll look back and be like “that really did happen for a reason”. Happy 2018!!!
PS – I LOVE how you have captions on your pictures!!! Is that a WordPress thing? I’m having a bit of a jealous moment. 🙂
Awe, thank you for the sweet comment Darcy, and for being a part of my cheering section! Haha yes, the captions are a WordPress feature. When you post a picture by itself, it shows up a bit differently and so I just prefer to caption in the regular text. But all of these photo were loaded as “galleries” and with in that setting I can caption them like that 🙂