2019 Recap

This year has been the best in my lifetime thus far. I ended 2018 in severe heartbreak, crying everyday, with little belief that the tears would ever dry up, yet I convinced myself that 2019 would be the year everything shifted. I established goals: I would not let my heart lead past my head, I would develop deeper relationships with those I loved, and I would let positivity overwhelm my thoughts, words, and actions. Each of these things, though not always with ease, consciously made their way into my lifestyle this year.

I began this year in Europe on a school trip. It was here that I made unforgettable high school  memories and the grandeur of this world was finally put into perspective. There is more to see in this world than the four walls of my bedroom, and there are rich, diverse cultures that delved beyond American politics…crazy right? 

In the spring, I finally understand the close-mindedness of my small private school and began making raw connections with people outside of my high school. Whilst I was still in school, however, I decided to quit trying to be the ideal student and perfect peer. Instead, I used my true personalty to make a small and intimate group of friends, as opposed to feeding the mouth of the prominent popularity contest that festered in my high school.

I went to four different school’s proms, and grew close to such a diverse array of people. 

In the summer, I quit working for a toxic employer. A small victory for 2019.

I graduated high school and began finalizing college plans.

I attended my first music festival and finally cultivated a free-spirited energy that would later serve me in college.

I chose Christopher Newport University as my home for the next four years, and I chose a person that felt like home to be my roommate.

In July, my supposed roommate told me that the school we had chosen together would not make her happy…I would be left to my own devices in the fall, and I was terrified to say the least.

I went on a two-week vacation to the West Coast. I had been on many vacations before, but this one was different. I grew a brand new appreciation for my family, finally understanding the priceless love that was afforded to me in the last eighteen years. (Oh, I also turned eighteen this year!)

To end the summer, I fell in love with the warm hearts and kindred atmosphere of Dewey Beach, a place in which I had always spent my time, but never grew to truly know. Here, I made new friends and crossed paths with the purest souls that I have ever met.

I lost a member of my family. My stillborn cousin, Grayson Manlove, was taken from us this year, and I saw my family in a state of tragedy and disrepair that I had yet to see.

In September, I braved move-in day at CNU, alone and without the companion from home that I had so looked forward to.

Slowly but surely, I found my place at college. I have a fool-proof love for my roomate, suite-mates, and hall-mates. I have grown so close to them in a depth that I had never deemed feasible. I cry with them, laugh with them, eat with them, sleep with them, learn with them, and live with them. I have made lifelong friends in a matter of months, and I am grateful beyond expression.

I have such a mature relationship with my immediate family. Since going to college, I have become more appreciative, responsible, independent, and respectful, leaving behind the bratty, small-brained teenager I used to know so well.

Each time I return home from school, my gratitude for my circumstances only sky-rockets.

This year has been monumental for me, however, my personal progression is not what made 2019 extraordinary. 2019 has been the best year of my life because I have shared my endeavors with the people I love, and I have watched them grow and succeed in the same ways I have. How much more beautiful is blooming when you are not a lonely rose amongst the shrubs, but a meadow that has emerged from dry soil? The class of 2019 surely is the meadow. We have all accomplished what was, seemingly, inconceivable at the start of the year. I have seen my best friends heartbroken, I have learned maturity alongside them, I have seen my parents cope with an empty nest, I have watched my brothers find their hope again, and I have expanded my interest beyond the dramas that consumed me as a high-schooler. What have you done? Or what have we all done together? 

But this is not the end. For many of you, 2020 will be like my 2019—filled with maturity, self respect, graduation, college orientation, appreciation, and a discovery of your calling. Each year we have new truths to discover and a previous truth to teach to others. Take the year of 2019 and add a new year of experiences and truths to make your new year better than the last. Our time is limited, and another year gone is another year we won’t get back. Do what is right and beat on against the currents of 2020. Nothing is impossible to a heart that is willing.

With love,

ev