On my 23rd birthday.

Twenty-two was a huge year for me. 

We had a lot of successes, a lot of moves,

a ton of excitement and a few heartbreaks.

Twenty-two was pretty monumental, overall.

Here are a few of the memories.

In my 22nd year,

I graduated from the University of Missouri (with honors...tooting my own horn here)
with my Bachelor's in English, emphasis in Creative Writing.

Just a few weeks later, Ryan and I moved from Columbia to St. Louis for his summer internship.
We hunkered down in a little studio apartment in a gated complex
right in the middle of a fairly sketchy neighborhood. I spent the summer writing, running and learning how to drive in a "big city" (well...sort of learning). We met an amazing group of interns
and had a blast getting to know new friends.
It was my first summer being further than a half-hour drive from our hometown,

and I learned a lot about stepping out of my comfort zone.

At 22, I celebrated one year of being married to a goofy, smart, amazing engineer-man. We spent an entire weekend enjoying dinners out, trips around St. Louis and 

the most delicious cupcakes ever.

At the end of the summer, we made our first long road trip together. It was spontaneous and unplanned; we moved out of our apartment in St. Louis, dropped our boxes back in Columbia and drove 18 hours across the United States to see a friend from high school.

It was my first trip to New York City.

My first ride on the subway.

My first run in Central Park.

It was impressive, beautiful, intimidating and less frightening than I had expected,
all rolled into one.

This past fall we ran our first half-marathon. It was a race celebrating BBQ and I ran it wearing my vegetarian t-shirt. And I chased down a girl wearing a "Beef: It's what's for dinner" shirt.

And I beat her. Boo-ya.

In my 22nd year, I think I did more waiting than I'd done in the previous 21 years combined.

At the end of the summer Ryan was offered a full time position in St. Louis following his graduation in December. And he loved that job,
but it was always our dream to move to Los Angeles.

So we waited. And he made contact with managers from the same company out in California.

And we waited. Waited, waited, postponed making a decision about the job offer in St. Louis

and agonized over whether or not we were making a smart decision.

Finally, in November, Ryan was offered a job in Los Angeles

and it felt like one of the single best days of my life.

At 22, I watched my husband graduate (with honors!) with degrees in both Electrical and Computer Engineering, after years of up-all-night study sessions. Of course I knew he could do it, but I was so proud to see all of his hard work pay off
because no one deserves it more than he does.

In January, we rang in the new year in Missouri with the best group of friends.
And the weekend after, as we packed up our U-Haul to move across the country,
 I said more teary good-byes than I've ever said in my life.

As a 22 year old, I achieved one of my biggest dreams when we moved to California. It was hard to leave our family and friends, but I've always felt like a California girl at heart and I know how lucky I am that our plans unfolded exactly how we'd hoped they would.
And I love everything about living here (well...except the cost of our rent).
I know we made the right decision.

At 22, after a year away from school,
I applied to graduate programs in Creative Writing and the waiting game was on.
 Again.
I experienced rejections that made me question my decision to pursue a career in writing,
and finally, I was admitted into the school where I'll start my MFA this June.

Lastly, just a month and a half ago,
Ryan's parents were in a plane crash and his dad passed away.
I never thought we would experience a heartache like that so early in our lives.
I thought I would have years and years to get to know my Father-in-law better.
At only 22 I felt ill-equipped to be the rock my husband needed, but I tried my absolute best and together we made it through as best as possible.

Twenty-two was a full year.
And I'm going to make sure twenty-three is even better.