January 1, 2007
2006, in retrospect ::
personal — tagged 2006, broken leg, new years and retrospective
8:51 pm
So, happy new year to all readers of this site. I hope the beginning of 2007 finds you happy and healthy, and in the company of people you know and love. I felt compelled to write a New Years post this year in part because my recent accident reminded me of my own mortality, but mostly because of how much things have changed since this time last year and it’s worthwhile to make note of it here.
In January, 2006 I was still in a long-term relationship, was about to enter my final semester of law school, and was on my way to Alabama to visit friends and visit Civil Rights-era historical sites. I knew that my life would change substantially in the upcoming year, but at that point I really had not idea whatsoever what would happen to me or, for that matter, what choices I would make that would fundamentally change my life. Completing law school was a big deal, definitely, but the most substantial change has been the breakup, mostly because up until June of last year, I had been planning out a future—at least nominally—with another person, but in the matter of one evening all of those plans just, well, disappeared, and I suddenly was living a life of chaos while I tried to figure out just what was going to happen to me next.
Since then I have taken the Vermont Bar exam, lived on the verge of homelessness for a few weeks, traveled to the Midwest, traveled to California, moved into a new place in Montpelier, made a bunch of new friends, passed the Vermont bar exam, dealt with the newness and excitement—as well as the loneliness and insecurity—of being 30 and single, received my license to practice law, broke my first bone, and gone in for my first full-blown surgical procedure. So, the last emergency notwithstanding, I’ve come along pretty well in my effort to make a new life for myself. But with that, I think one day I will look back on this year with a sense of nostalgia, remembering it as a pivotal time when I started a new phase in my life. But right now all I can think about is how emotionally and intellectually trying it’s been, and I want to just move on to 2007.
