A Year in Review

June 2010:

After finally getting my license (at the age of 22), I made the 8 hour drive from my hometown to Wilmington, Ohio to begin my year as an AmeriCorps* VISTA!

July 2010:

Attended Cincinnati’s Gay Pride parade with the lovely Karay Martin and knew we were going to be great friends!

August 2010:

A fellow VISTA referred me to her landlord about a recent apartment opening. This would end up being my very first Bachelorette pad and site to some incredible memories.

September 2010:

Organized the 2010 Tour de Farm fundraiser. The event was pretty small, but I was proud of myself for managing to pull it off considering my poor event-planning skills. (One thing I can check off my list of possible careers! Ha!)

October 2010:

Participated in Wilmington College’s Mud Volleyball games with my fellow VISTAs. It didn’t take long for it to become my new favorite sport!

November 2010:

With nowhere to go for Thanksgiving, Matt kindly let me tag along to his family’s Thanksgiving. I think this was around the time we realized we were soul siblings :)

December 2010:

SonJane Fest 2010. The night I met many of my new Wilmington friends, and namely, the love of my life.

January 2011:

Filled with lots of fun birthdays and lots of “Define the Relationship” talks with my significant other ;)

February 2011:

Lots of dates, kisses and getting to know my one and only.

March 2011:

A bucket list item gets crossed off: Our trip to Nashville, as well as a trip home to “meet the parents!”

April 2011:

Our birthdays, Jack’s Mannequin and our first “I love you”.

May 2011:

Work was crazy stressful as the growing season was in full swing. My love was there for me every step of the way: preparing meals when I got home, doing laundry that I was too exhausted to attend to and even rototilling a garden or two.

This was also Chuck’s first trip to the Jersey Shore. All it took was a few hours in Cape May for him to fall as deeply in love with the place as I have.

June 2011:

My final days with Grow Food, Grow Hope came to a bittersweet close and Chuck and I began what could be referred to as a long-distance relationship.

July 2011:

After I received my acceptance letter for grad school at Chatham, our lives became a whirlwind of trying to move ourselves out to Pittsburgh on a very short time frame. I’ve never been so blessed as I am currently to have a man who supports and believes in me so much that he’s willing to pick up and move his life so that I may pursue my dreams. That’s what I like to call love.

***

I have no idea what the next year has in store for us (it’s not about ‘me’ anymore!). All I can say is, Wilmington has given me one hell of a year, and I can’t wait to see how Pittsburgh measures up! I’ve been so blessed over the last 13 months, and there’s still so much yet to come. Thank you to every person who’s made my Ohio life oh so memorable.

I love you all.