This year started with an electrical kerfuffle in our backyard, that eventually had us digging up the backyard, and spending several hundred dollars to AEP to make sure things were hunky-dory.<\/p>\n
And everyone knows a large unexpected expense is better paired with being unexpectedly laid off from your job of six years.<\/p>\n Then you throw on not one, but two cars not working. Now you\u2019ve got yourself a keeper of a year. 2012. That isn\u2019t even everything.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not just me. You see friends going through hard things, life throwing them a curveball, and it all just hits you like a Thwomp<\/a>. Don\u2019t bring me down, Groose.<\/a> (two video game references)<\/p>\n After all this hit me, I was very much defeated. I\u2019ve been defeated all year long. It\u2019s hard to write this all out, and still feel anything but bitterness. It becomes hard to remain positive. I can honestly say this year has been one of the<\/em>, if not the hardest things I\u2019ve ever had to go through as an adult.<\/p>\n This year has changed me, mostly from a way I approach the world, and people. I have lost a lot of optimism, and remains to be seen if I will regain it. I observed during this time, that when people ask you how you\u2019re doing, they aren\u2019t really prepared or equipped when you answer: horrible. It\u2019s become apparent we\u2019re all wrapped up in our own things, some annoying, some downright disheartening. It\u2019s hard to direct what little energy we have left towards other people during their rough times.<\/p>\n I can say when most people go about their lives, the people who do spend time with you, even to talk about things, to distract you, to do you unexpected acts of kindness, you appreciate them. I will never be able to repay certain individuals who have helped me through this year. Most importantly Erica, who has dealt with all of this with me. She\u2019s the one, that\u2019s for sure. They say the first year of marriage is the most challenging, and I think this year was most assuredly the thing to put that to the test.<\/p>\n I have to thank Erica\u2019s Mom and Grandpa who in our time of need managed to buy us a freaking third car so we could get to work, to interviews, to function. I can\u2019t explain how amazing that was for them to do and how grateful I really am.<\/p>\n We planned a vacation to Dragon*Con before all this happened too. We still went \u00a0through with our plans to keep with it, and it was honestly the first time all year I was able to forget about everything that happened. It probably doesn\u2019t hurt when people are taking hundreds of photos of you like a celebrity. But it\u2019s probably because I went with two amazing friends and we managed to have fun despite being around each other for three days straight.<\/p>\n We have two friends that will drive an hour to meet us halfway in Wilmington, Ohio to eat dinner at a Bob Evans and just talk about their lives for hours, on a weekday no less. Even visit us on their birthday!<\/p>\n![\"Trench](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7104\/7038936715_432ee06e02.jpg?resize=224%2C300\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Dragon*Con!\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8441\/7937343354_6f9d362cb7.jpg?resize=350%2C263\")
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<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Camp](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7094\/7360292986_6b38da41f7.jpg?resize=350%2C233\")
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