2019 in Review: New House, New Jobs, Aruba, and More

As the new year approaches I’m reflecting on the events of 2019. This past year was a monumental one for me and Vinny. 

Just a few highlights of our year:

• January: My birthday in 2019 was filled with dear friends who came out to celebrate my special day. 

• February: I went on my third trip to my favorite Southern city--Savannah--to meet up with my sister for a girls weekend.

• March: We went on one of my favorite vacations ever to Aruba and enjoyed five days soaking up the sun, sand, waves, and island culture.

• April: I finally visited my parents in one of their favorite spots--Little Gasparilla Island in Florida. Hoping to go back this year!

• May: Vin and I celebrated our 4th anniversary by staying in RVA and trying a new restaurant. I also realized I needed to do something about my chronic IT band pain, so I began PT.

• June: We went on our yearly vacation to Maine with Vin’s family just after I finished PT. This time we got to explore Portland, and I took part in a 5k race there with no pain!

• July: Vinny and I traveled to Philly/the Jersey Shore to visit family and friends for the 4th of July. I experienced Ocean City for the first time and saw fireworks on the boardwalk!

• August: Vin and I celebrated 4 years of RVA life! We also spent a weekend in DC with friends and went to a Nationals/Brewers game that lasted 14 innings! Nats may have won the World Series, but the Brewers won that game!

• September: We bought our house, which we are absolutely loving! This holiday season has been such a sweet time of decorating our home for Christmas, having friends and family over, and settling into new rhythms. I can’t wait to experience our home throughout all the seasons. Also, Grandma and Heidi came to visit--it was Grandma’s first time in Richmond!

• October: Vin and I did the Trails & Ales 5k together. We walked around our new neighborhood on Halloween. I finished my reading goal of 40 books ahead of schedule!

• November: Vin got a new job! He can now combine his original desire to be in education with his skills in recruiting and management. Also, we went to Green Front Furniture to furnish our home. And we traveled to Massachusetts to spend Thanksgiving with Vin’s family, where we were snowed in for a couple days. So cozy!

• December: I got a new job! (See more below). We hosted a holiday housewarming party. We had many Christmas get-togethers with friends. My sister came to visit and we did all the Christmasy things. And we are getting ready to travel to Wisconsin for Christmas!
  

I love looking back on this list. These are only the highlights. So much life is lived in-between these big events, but 2019 was a big year for big events. I’m so grateful.

I also want to take a moment to talk about my job search and new job a bit. Thank you to the many family members and friends who helped me in this process, even if that was just asking me how it’s going. You know it was a long road of many highs and lows and disappointment and hoping and ultimately, a wonderful new position. But I will say that the period of applying, searching, interviewing, and waiting was grueling, especially because I felt so stuck. So I want to say to anyone reading this who may be in the middle of the job search: I know it is so hard, especially if you are leaving your current company due to the culture. And maybe you start to doubt that you even possess the discernment to evaluate and choose a good company because you somehow ended up somewhere that feels like it’s eating away at your soul little by little, and you’ve strayed so far from your actual skills and what you enjoy doing and you wake up one morning realizing that you used to actually like going to work but that hasn’t been the case in over a year. At times it was so hard to keep believing that work should not make me feel miserable and frustrated and bored. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic (but hey, this is my blog), I promise you that there are better jobs out there than the one you are in if you feel this way (discouraged, frustrated, bored, etc.) because I had a job with a good culture and structure before this one, and thank God, I now have one again. 

Every job has its challenges and its frustrations for sure, but a disorganized, dysfunctional culture is especially damaging. Learn what you can and move on to something better. 

This year was filled with so many good things, and yet I struggled career-wise for many months. There were times in which I just felt drained and I spiraled down the path of feeling like I didn't trust my own judgment anymore and I felt so trapped and I was frustrated and anxious and I apologize to and am thankful for all those who listened to me vent (sorry, hubby), reached out to check in, commiserated with me in disappointment, and rejoiced with me when good news finally came. I also would be remiss not to mention that some of the people who helped me get through this tough year career-wise were actually at my current job. There are good people everywhere, even in dysfunctional, disorganized places. 

But if you are where I was as this year comes to a close, I’m thinking of and praying for you. Keep fighting even the small battles of maintaining your integrity, your standards, your dreams.

Jon Foreman and Co. will also forever give voice to my highs and lows and in-betweens. Through the tough times these past months I kept coming back to the refrain "All will be made well, and all will be well, and all manner of things shall be well." It's a very simple but calming mantra, originally spoken by a devout woman of faith in the Middle Ages, and referenced in Switchfoot's song "Living is Simple." Words have such power to shape my thoughts, and these were ones I was holding onto very tightly throughout the past months. They gave me the next bit of grace I needed to get through the next day, the next hard thing.

Also, I don’t want to minimize the blessing of my new job. Training this week was a breath of fresh air, and I’m so excited to be excited about work again! I feel energized to jump into this new chapter starting in January. 

It’s also not often that the year seems to wrap up (get it? haha) in a nice big red Christmas bow. Starting a new job at the beginning of the new year couldn’t be more perfect. All the right energy is there, and I’m looking forward to a strong start and a time of growth and challenge, learning new skills, polishing older ones, and meeting new clients and getting to know new teammates. 

Life is so messy and wonderful and hard and beautiful, and I feel so full of gratitude and joy and peace as 2019 comes to a close. 

I wish you and your circle of people a very Merry Christmas, as well as strength and courage for challenges in 2020 and times of rejoicing and contentment in the good gifts of friendship, family, the beauty of the natural world, community, holidays, and His new mercies every morning.

~ Roni  🎄⭐💜

Lyrics to "Living is Simple" by Switchfoot

Living in simple Living is simple Living is simple  It's gravity; gravity isn't so hard  Living is simple  It's entropy; entropy, falling apart  I'm falling apart again  Living is simple  And breathing is easy, it's easy to do  Living is simple  And losing is easy; I'm losing my cool  I'm losing my cool again  All will be made well  Will be made well  Will be made well  Will be well Is this fiction?  Is this fiction?  Hope has given himself to the worst  Is this fiction or divine comedy?  Where the last of the last finish first  Living is simple Living is simple Living is simple Living is dying  Your mercy, Your mercy is how I believe  Living is dying  I can't understand it  I'm down on my knees confessing my needs again  I've had my choices  I've chosen today  I've had my choices  Choices remain Is this fiction? Is this fiction? Hope has given himself to the worst Is this fiction or divine comedy? Where the last of the last finish first Living is simple Living is simple Living is simple