A year in review

This has probably been the most changingyear of my life so far, and yet no one major "life event" seems to have taken place. It's only now that I look back and see that the person I am now is very different from the person I was a year ago. I'm more confident, both in my personal life and in my job. I'm a little heavier, having gained back 12 of the total 25 pounds I had dropped the year before. I'm also a lot happier and more sure of where my life is going, although it's been a winding path of uneasiness for the first half of 2005. Here is the rundown. Like I said, nothing of importance, but everything of consequence:

Lydia's 2005
January: Moved into "my" first house. I didn't plan on having a roomate, but quickly found out that a 3-bedroom, 100 year old house is kind of creepy by yourself. I also had to deal with a carbon monoxide leak, two toilets that didn't work, and a lack of heat for the first two weeks. During this month, I cried over the loss of my "college/grad school years" as I unpacked my boxes and questioned over whether breaking up with Mr. 6 years was really what I should have done. Things officially ended with The Pilot, although he never really left the picture as a friend. And, after using his truck to move my stuff, I never called back The Hunter, who scared me away after telling a friend of mine that "I was the perfect Southern woman because I knew that a man's job was more important and that a woman's place was in the home." Ha. yeah. He really did not know me at all. The only way I was going to end up barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen was if I was artificially inseminated against my will and chained to a stove without shoes.

February: Most of the month was a blur. A guy walked into town on his cross-country trek, a'la Forrest Gump, and although he only meant to stay a couple days, ended up in Tuscaloosa most of the month, and crossed the Alabama-Mississippi border three times. Feburary ended with a camping trip (the last time I will ever sleep outside in the winter) and a weekend at home where he met my mom. Regardless to say, now I question my judgement with the whole thing. We both fell hard and fast and ended just as bitterly. Now, it's become a chapter that my friends like to make fun of me about... "The Walker."

March - May: I've never drank so much alcohol in my life. The routine was almost the same every night... after work, I'd run home, eat dinner, usually a lean cuisine tv dinner or something I picked up on the way home. Then, around 9, I'd meet Lance, Chris, or whoever was going out at Innisfree. We'd eventually make it around the corner to Catch. Then, sometime around midnight, I'd stumble home, getting online, where I'd chat until 2 or 3 a.m., then get up and go to work the next morning. Hence, why, during these months I was largely broke and gained back the weight I had lost. The highlight of these nights out was the night of Ash Wednesday when I got so drunk I woke up sprawled eagle on my bed, fully clothed, stillettos and all, with the cross of ashes still on my forehead. I quickly sobered up when I realized that I had slept through a phone interview with the Norwegian minister of Petroleum that morning. BIG mistake. The walker episode also continued these months, although somewhat intermittently. (Hey, it's hard to be anything but when your boyfriend is walking across the country for charity.) In March we went to Memphis, and met his friends. In April I drove 26 hours in one weekend to Kansas City to see the walker. It would be the last time I saw him. I was planning on visiting him in Yellowstone in May, but all correspondence stopped. I never heard from the walker again. I was heartbroken at the time. Now, I just look back on it as a very strange relationship.

June: The first Sunday in June, I was walking my dog Lilly on the quad when she saw a squirrel and just about dragged me into Denny Chimes. That was when I saw Mr. Goatee, wearing a white tee-shirt and jeans, and a navy baseball cap. I thought to myself, hmm. Not bad. Not that I was good, wearing running shorts and my oversize sunglasses, my face badly peeling from the Memorial Day trip to the beach. But we talked, and laughed, and went to dinner. It wasn't like we hadn't talked before... we had actually talked online... although that is a little known fact. But it was the first time we met.

July: I was convinced that I did not want a relationship, and kept telling Mr. Goatee that, although we acted anything but. I wanted to be single, to relish in that because I thought that was what I needed after a year of tumultuous relationships and breakups. But, he was different. He was older, more mature, and patient. On my 24th birthday, I got drunk... he carried me home... and I threw up on him. When he called me back the next day, I figured he was a keeper.

August: My bestfriend got married, and I was a bridesmaid for the 6th time in 5 years. It was bittersweet. And I finally became exclusive with Mr. Goatee. Katrina also hit, which left me without power for a week and made a huge humanistic mark on Tuscaloosa with thousands of evacuees moving into town.

September- November: Work kept me busy, with Hurricane Katrina aftermath. But, after meeting the Strickland family, who had evacuated from New Orleans, I finally felt I had a purpose in life. I did five stories on them and their adjustment to life in Alabama after Katrina. I wanted to help them, but didn't have the money to do so. But, the response poured out from the community after every article. I felt like it was some sort of sign from God and I was so thankful. I also went to Ga. with Mr. Goatee to meet his family and his hometown friends, and saw a different side of him... that of the "rockstar" that he used to be. Quite different from the suit and tie man I see every day.

December: Everything this month has been a whirlwind. Holidays split. Tomorrow we're flying to CA to visit the family, and so that Goatee can meet Dad. I'll catch up on how that goes next year!