A scene from Newfoundland
The past year was not a great one for me. It was a tough slog. Lots of personal and family issues popped up over the course of the year that ultimately had me stressing out or downright depressed for much of the year. I won’t dwell on many of those things here, mostly because I want to keep them private.
However, despite some crappy things happening in 2011, there were some really great things that happened. Instead of dwelling on the negatives, I’m going to focus on the best things that happened to me in 2011.
For the purposes of this blog, these things will take the form of a Top 2 list (I originally conceived of this post as a Top 5, but couldn’t come up with five things I actually cared to blog about).
The Top Two Events in the Life of Adam Snider in 2011
While 2011 was, overall, a tough year, I think that the positives actually outweigh the negatives. I’ll dwell on the positives a bit, because I think they are more interesting and worth sharing. In the order required by the unwritten code of Serious Relationships, here are the two best things that happened to me this year:
2. Trip to Newfounland
In October, Sara and I took a trip out to Newfoundland. She hadn’t been home for a while and I’d never been. Her parents were kind enough to fly us out on their Air Miles (they’d originally planned to do so last Christmas, but the flights are astronomically more expensive during the holiday season).
In some ways, the trip reminded me of our trip to the Yukon a few years back. For one thing, that landscape was stunning. I love my prairies, but they sure can make for a dull road trip.
Newfoundland was beautiful. The countryside is all rocks and forests and lakes (or bays, depending on where you are on the island). Some of the small fishing villages are rustically beautiful, and St. John’s is the best looking city I’ve ever visited (at least the downtown and harbour areas). Pictures will be forthcoming.
The other way that this trip reminded me of our trip up north was the way in which the place and the people took hold of me. When we returned home, I found myself feeling homesick for a place that isn’t my home.
The island is beautiful and the culture–especially the music scene–is awesome. Just don’t believe what they tell you about Newfoundlanders being the friendliest people in Canada. Many of them certainly are, but my experiences in the big box stores of Grand Falls-Windsor made me long for some disinterested prairie folk.
The time spent with Sara’s family was also enjoyable. It was nice to spend some with her parents, one of her uncles, and her brother and his girlfriend. And there was the nephew.
I mean, OK, he’s not technically my nephew, since Sara and I aren’t married, but he’s the closest thing to a nephew that I’ve got and it was weirdly entertaining to watch him rock out in his Jolly Jumper (seriously; the kid loves to jump).
Of course, the most memorable part of the trip is the last item on this list.
1. Sara and I got engaged
Remember what I said previously about the nephew not really being my nephew? Well, that’ll no longer be true come June 30th of 2012. That’s the date that Sara and I will be getting married.
And, remember what I said about this being the most memorable part of the trip? That’s not entirely true. It’s not that it wasn’t a memorable moment. It’s just that I was so wired on adrenaline and nerves that the actual proposal is kind of a haze. I don’t even remember what I said, other than the part about: “Will you marry me?”
She answered with something that meant: “yes.” I don’t even remember exactly what she said other than that it was a response in the affirmative. And so now we’re getting married.
I didn’t blog about this sooner partly because we’ve been trying to keep it off of the web. But, mostly, this means keeping it off of Facebook and so we decided that it was OK for me to blog about it. (That said, please don’t mention this on Facebook or Twitter (or even on Google+, unless you’ve got a Circle that is limited to people who are already in the know); the blog is one thing, social media is another beast altogether.)
Much of the past few months has been occupied by wedding planning. It’s gone surprisingly smoothly, so far. There have been a few bumps along the way but, for the most part, it hasn’t been too bad. Hopefully, it’ll stay that way as we get closer to the wedding date.
And then the wedding will happen and then we’ll be married.
Rad.
