Why is it that we remember the tough stuff far longer than we remember the good stuff? One year, 12 months, 365 days,  8760 hours of living my life. Some of it fantastic and some of it crap. Lots of it messy. All of it, mine.

At first when I thought of 2019 I thought of all the tough stuff. I had my knee operated on and Im still recovering. My dog Duke had to be put down.  I had a precancerous result from my yearly colonoscopy. Work was harder than ever and I worked more hours this year than other years combined. I was careless with a friend and lost him. I tweeted on Friday that I could not wait until 2019 was over.

Today while scrolling Instagram I saw my friends posting their top pictures of the year. It looked like fun so I began to scroll through my 2019 pictures. I’m so glad I did. What I found was that 2019 was not just the tough stuff. There was a ton of good stuff in it too.

• I kicked boxed in Manila
• Spent a night in Alaska in winter
• Ate ramen in Japan
• Found out I would be a grandmother
• Took myself to Paris for a long weekend
• Had an authentic stroopwafel in Amsterdam
• Stood on The Great Wall in China
• Days by a pool and ate at Hell’s Kitchen in Vegas
• Had my cards read in Dublin and so many Dublin trips
• Kayaked with friends for a week in Maine
• Rode in a Swiss Army tank touring breweries in Bend
• Enjoyed good coffee in Seattle and lots of work in San Francisco
• Became a grandmother to the cutest baby girl

I learned a valuable lesson today. Don’t judge a year by a few tough weeks.

Photos to come once I figure out how to add them