2005: A Year in Review

Oh 2005, what a year you've been. In many ways, you have managed to both suck and blow at the same time. But the last 12 months haven't been all bad. There may have been a silver lining or two in there. In order to truly evaluate the year, I'm going to do what any self-respecting VH1 afficianado would do: I'm going to make a list. So, *drumroll, please* I give you, The Best and Worst of Sara's Life in 2005.

The Worst.

4. Interminable job search in Bay Area. Talk about a soul-sucking process. "Hi, I know you have years of experience in this exact field, but we're going to string this out for months, interview you multiple times, and then never tell you why we decided to go with another candidate."

3. Suckiness of job (pre-2005 - 3/05). Let me tell you, my job was awful from, say mid-2003 to the early part of this year. Most of that suckiness was due to internal politics and really bad bosses (from the merely disinterested to the actively sabotaging).

2. Mega-fight with Richard during New Mexico vacation. Serious mega-fight, to the point that, for about 15 seconds, I thought we might actually split. It all boiled down to the fact that we weren't really communicating, and we were so busy with the 18 million extraneous things in our lives that kept us apart.

1. Death of Brent, my dear friend Carrie's boyfriend. Unexpectedly passing away at age 29, two days after they moved in together. Sucked ass and still does.

But, to accentuate the positive, here is The Best.

5. Work! That may seem a bit weird, but actually, since April, when I got a new boss who actually respects my opinion and expertise and makes an effort to understand and appreciate what I do, things here have been really good.

4. LA! We love it! Actually I do love Los Angeles, and this year, after all the suckiness of the job search, we decided to stay. It was a hard decision to make, but I think it was the correct one. And having a firm decision helped reduce a lot of the tension and uncertainty that was causing us stress.

3. Baby Maggie! This is the year that welcomed baby Margaret Allison Carriles into the world on October 21. Congratulations and many hugs to new parents Allison F. & Ignacio!

2. Weddings! Oh my god, this was the year when everyone, their mother & second cousin Hilda, decided to get married. Kirsten & Dave (May 14), Christa & Jeff R. (June 11), Ryan & Sara (July 30) and Allison K. & Jeff S. (August 20). Congratulations to you all!

1. Friends! This year has shown me, more than ever, what amazing friends (old & new) I have.

1a. My Stitch n Bitch friends got me through the awful tedium of the sucky job and the equally sucky job search. Without their support, I would have cracked (or at least had way more fights with Rich). And getting to see them every week makes staying in LA all the more attractive.

1b. I realized just how much I love my girlfriends up in the Bay: Carrie, Allison F., Christa & Elizabeth. When Brent died, I felt like someone punched me in the stomach -- not because I even knew him that well, but because I ached for what it meant for Carrie. We all pulled together to try to offer her as much support as we could, even when all we could do was sit up with her, crying and drinking too much red wine and smoking too many cigarettes. And with Christa's wedding and Allison's pregnancy (and birth of Baby Maggie), we got to share some good times, too. One of my regrets about choosing to stay in LA rather than moving up to the Bay is that I'm staying farther away from these ladies.

1c. My college friends are pretty cool, too. And even though almost every one of them has moved away from LA, this year allowed us to have quite a few opportunities to get together. Ryan & Sara's wedding in Seattle was not only beautiful, but it gave us a reason to hang out and generally, be really silly (of course, it also provided the impetus to create Screech, the Scary Owl!). And seeing so many people in Seattle motivated us to hold our annual Friend's Thanksgiving in Utah, which introduced us all to entire Reng family (Katie, Ben's wife whom I hadn't seen in 5 years, Nichole, who is now almost 6 years old and was not even 1 when I saw her last, and Jason, age 4, Natie, age 2, and Hope, age 2 months, all of whom I'd never met before).

So there you have it, proof that while 2005 was partially sucky, there were some bright spots, too. I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday (only 6 crafting days until Christmas and only 7 until Hanukkah!), and that in 2006, the bright spots outweigh the sucky parts.