Realizing dreams and making memories...sort of.

It is my birthday soon--I will be 25. As a result, everyone tells me how much they enjoyed being that age. Well, quite frankly, 24 will be hard to beat--in fact, it was golden.

I don't really wish to go through the whole year in review to give you an idea of how awesome it was. If you'd like to you can do that on your own time--on this blog--one of the many great features that resulted from this last year. Instead, I shall share a brief story. One that illustrates the new level of abundant living I have achieved.

For some time now I've longed to go snowshoeing under a full moon. Due to unforeseen circumstances, such as unreliable friends and new moons that replace full moons, I had yet to realize this unfulfilled dream. A dream that I had held since I moved here 2 1/2 years ago. Such were my thoughts as I lay in bed on a weekend in February, preparing to take a nap while most of my friends were out on dates. So when my friend, Katherine, called wondering what I was doing I suggested that we go snowshoeing. She heartily agreed. We tried to invite boys. We failed. We brought hot chocolate instead.

As we wound up the canyon I admitted that I had always pictured this occasion with a boy...or a large group of strictly platonic friends...but I was still excited. She told me that her mom always instructed her to get out and "make some memories." We agreed that this was the stuff memories were made of. When I stepped out of the car and breathed in the chilly mountain air I sighed happily as I walked to the trailhead--just to scope it out. Katherine stated that we might not even need snowshoes. I ignored her out of principle--that is, until I saw the trail. It was solidly packed... I glanced up at the sky. It was completely covered by clouds...

Fate had found me again.

It didn't matter, though, there were bigger things at work here. We strapped on our backpacks, turned on our headlamps, and conquered that mountain. Ok--so maybe we hiked for 45 minutes, did somersaults and cartwheels in the snow, and drank hot chocolate. Golden.