2016

This moment was magical.  I drove to the Embarcadero and found perfect parking, walked straight into Super Bowl City, the OneRepublic concert was fantastic, George and his friends were great company, Hispanic men called me "bonita" all night after I told them I didn't understand Spanish :P, the energy of the crowd was amazing, we danced in the street, and the fireworks were beautiful.  

It was a great start to the year. 

And then... 

Aatman broke up with me, my boss and I started having challenges (ruining my dream job), I distanced myself from family and good friends because I wasn't sure how to move forward, my car was smashed into, I cried at work and at parties and for entire days, I started to feel old, a significant amount of generation defining celebrities passed away, Trump was elected president, a bunch of people were burned to death in an Oakland artist warehouse -- not to mention Syria, Standing Rock, Black Lives Matter... 

But also... 

I went to Croatia, Aatman and I managed to have a really nice farewell before he moved to Utah, I started working out and feeling strong, met someone who took me to see some amazing music, got a new car, went to Disneyland, learned to be a better me, patched things up with my boss, made new friends, laughed as much as I could, found great support in random people, reconnected with family and good friends when I was ready to move forward, went to New Zealand and Australia, found light again and again and again, was pleasantly surprised a few times, got to meet my new nephew, and just didn't give up. 

What I learned:

Glowworms are basically glowing maggots that hang long strings of mucus from themselves to catch bugs so they can eat them -- but, when you're in the glowworm caves, it's like you're silently floating through a dense constellation of gorgeous, endless, tiny blue stars.