2018, let’s go.

Happy New Year! We made it!

New Years is such an interesting time of year, everyone posts 1 of 2 things on social media:

2017, you’ll be hard to beat #newbaby #weddinghashtag #bestnine
2017, thank god you’re gone! 2018, let’s go. #Fpolitics #strugglebus #ihatenewyears

First, let it be known that I love basic ish like these rash generalizations, but I have been

bestnine — **For proof, here are my top nine…told ya, I’m just as basic as the rest of ya**

struggling with these absolutes the past couple of days. 2017 was actually V balanced for me, lots of hard but LOTS of love and good.

It’s funny how we have to feel one way or the other about the year. We are either sad to see it go or wayyyyy over it. That doesn’t seem to me like a fair assessment of 365 days.

I was thinking, “what would my hypothetical social media summary be for the year be?”

Here are some options:

“2017, F you for your shitty politics, but thanks for the incredible gift of working towards a better tomorrow every day! #dreamers”

“2017, you broke my city with Harvey, but we saw deep love, rebuilt stronger, and thanks to the ‘stros have more pride to be Houstonians than ever! #hoUSton #worldserieschamps #houstonstong #iliterallylovejustinverlander”

“2017, thank you for deep love and for throwing in profound loss for good measure! #lovedandlost”

As the kids say, “Miss, YOU REAL.” But, no one really wants to read that on Dec. 31st for some reason. Which I disagree with, because as I tell my students daily, “hard doesn’t mean bad, hard means we are being pushed to be better.” I am thankful for that challenge and I hope you are too.

To be clear, in 2017 I saw the utmost love shown through strangers and through the best friends and family imaginable. I watched a city pick eachother up by it’s bootstraps and was picked up by my own by others. Also, I got to see parts of the world many people are lucky to dream of (Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Southern California, Patagonia, etc). The good I experienced in 2017 was earth-shattering good.

With that said, I deeply believe any shadows in the valleys of 2017 mean there is light on the mountain tops of 2018. We must trust that life is a mixed bag of broken and beautiful and we exactly where we need to be. The best news is, as the good book says, we should, “be truly glad, there is wonderful joy ahead.” -1 Peter 1:6

So here is my actual caption for 2017,

“thank you for ALL of it. I learned, loved, struggled and saw overwhelming success. I’m looking forward to what’s up next.”

*Still pretty basic*

As for you 2018, let’s go.