For time immemorial I will look back on 2013 with the nostalgic eyes of one who remembers a pretty good year of life.
I became a man among boys. I moved across the nation. I started this blog. I became a coach. I bought a bike and rode it a lot. I met a timeless friend. I failed over and over at my job (and over and over and over). I conceived a new and radical life plan that I may or may not discuss here later.
And though I've tried to document many of these moments, I simply didn't have time to portray each of them in the glorious, hyperbolic fashion that makes them worthy of sharing with people who would otherwise not really give a shit.
With that being said, I have a little time and would like to add a few more 'worthy' moments from 2013 before it's gone. Enjoy!
-On the morning of the first great snowstorm in Connecticut, all adults at my school were atwitter with prospects of an early dismissal. Normally my early-morning interactions with other teachers would go something like this.
"Hey. Morning."
"Morning. Almost Friday."
"Mmmhmm."
But on this day, we were more excited than a coupla kids walking into Toys "R" Us with their wealthy grandmother the weekend before Christmas.
"Hey!"
"Hey! How 'bout that snow? Think we'll get out early?"
"It's comin' down. I think we gotta pretty good shot!"
"That would make my friggin' life."
"One love."
"Mmmhmm!"
Later that day, another teacher whispered to me that school would in fact be canceled, and I nearly keeled over with the weight of endorphins flooding my brain. I later biked home in the white magic, and my back wheel slipped and slid along the softened pavement in the most pleasing of ways.
-I had a birthday.
-On another school day shortened by snow, I enjoyed half a day of raucous good fun with my partner in crime, slooshying through the stuff, tossing it at each other, and generally experiencing ecstasy.
Later, when I went home, it was dark. I needed a shower, and in the bathroom I noticed, as if for the first time, the small window above the tub. I turned the light off in order to better see outside. In near blackness, I showered while watching the powdery fluff flurry on the neighbor's roof. All the sensual sensations of a steamy shower seemed to sharpen sans my sense of crisp sight and plus the snowy scene outside, and I haven't taken a shower in light since.
-During my long-awaited homecoming, I felt a genuine attachment to Oregon. The trees are so tall and so green. The land is so unfilled. The friends and family that I had so unceremoniously left behind six months before appeared to still love me. They laughed at my patchy beard and long locks, but it was done in a knowing way–as in they know I know I look like a knucklehead yet choose it all the same.
All-in-all, it was just what I needed out of this ten-day break from teaching, which reminds me I have to go back to teach.
Oh god.
-Just a few hours ago, also while in Oregon, I handed a couple of my sister’s and Dad’s dollars to a good-natured man. He appeared to be homeless, and he had commented on how smiley we all were as we walked past him. We returned the compliment, and he said he’s always smiling.
Good guy, right? So I gathered everybody’s money but my own and gave it to him. He responded like this: “God bless you. Or if you’re not inta that God stuff, just bless you.” Yep, good guy.
-My dear sister, who for the last seventeen or so years has ragged on my inability to sing, said, "You know, I think you've taught yourself to sing better."
I started crying.
Then I belted Hey Jude, one of my go-to's, to show my thanks.
Then she started crying.
-I read a Steinbeck novel and really enjoyed it.
-I read Cloud Atlas, which was made into my favorite movie. I enjoyed that book too. (Seriously though, David Mitchell is a wunderwriter. My goodnasty.)
-I'm running out of highlights. I graduated college? No, definitely not. Too cliche and everyday.
-Oh, got one! This will be the last highlight in a year sprinkled with so many.
I got into Teach for America. Haha.
Honestly though, despite all my negative thoughts directed at the program, it has helped me become whomever it is that I'm becoming, and it's given me an antagonist for the book I've yet to write.
-Okay one more, since my highlights have sunk to such a lowlight level: I ate this really good peanut butter and jelly sandwich in November, and I still remember how moistly delicious the bread was.
I became a man among boys. I moved across the nation. I started this blog. I became a coach. I bought a bike and rode it a lot. I met a timeless friend. I failed over and over at my job (and over and over and over). I conceived a new and radical life plan that I may or may not discuss here later.
And though I've tried to document many of these moments, I simply didn't have time to portray each of them in the glorious, hyperbolic fashion that makes them worthy of sharing with people who would otherwise not really give a shit.
With that being said, I have a little time and would like to add a few more 'worthy' moments from 2013 before it's gone. Enjoy!
-On the morning of the first great snowstorm in Connecticut, all adults at my school were atwitter with prospects of an early dismissal. Normally my early-morning interactions with other teachers would go something like this.
"Hey. Morning."
"Morning. Almost Friday."
"Mmmhmm."
But on this day, we were more excited than a coupla kids walking into Toys "R" Us with their wealthy grandmother the weekend before Christmas.
"Hey!"
"Hey! How 'bout that snow? Think we'll get out early?"
"It's comin' down. I think we gotta pretty good shot!"
"That would make my friggin' life."
"One love."
"Mmmhmm!"
Later that day, another teacher whispered to me that school would in fact be canceled, and I nearly keeled over with the weight of endorphins flooding my brain. I later biked home in the white magic, and my back wheel slipped and slid along the softened pavement in the most pleasing of ways.
-I had a birthday.
-On another school day shortened by snow, I enjoyed half a day of raucous good fun with my partner in crime, slooshying through the stuff, tossing it at each other, and generally experiencing ecstasy.
Later, when I went home, it was dark. I needed a shower, and in the bathroom I noticed, as if for the first time, the small window above the tub. I turned the light off in order to better see outside. In near blackness, I showered while watching the powdery fluff flurry on the neighbor's roof. All the sensual sensations of a steamy shower seemed to sharpen sans my sense of crisp sight and plus the snowy scene outside, and I haven't taken a shower in light since.
-During my long-awaited homecoming, I felt a genuine attachment to Oregon. The trees are so tall and so green. The land is so unfilled. The friends and family that I had so unceremoniously left behind six months before appeared to still love me. They laughed at my patchy beard and long locks, but it was done in a knowing way–as in they know I know I look like a knucklehead yet choose it all the same.
All-in-all, it was just what I needed out of this ten-day break from teaching, which reminds me I have to go back to teach.
Oh god.
-Just a few hours ago, also while in Oregon, I handed a couple of my sister’s and Dad’s dollars to a good-natured man. He appeared to be homeless, and he had commented on how smiley we all were as we walked past him. We returned the compliment, and he said he’s always smiling.
Good guy, right? So I gathered everybody’s money but my own and gave it to him. He responded like this: “God bless you. Or if you’re not inta that God stuff, just bless you.” Yep, good guy.
-My dear sister, who for the last seventeen or so years has ragged on my inability to sing, said, "You know, I think you've taught yourself to sing better."
I started crying.
Then I belted Hey Jude, one of my go-to's, to show my thanks.
Then she started crying.
-I read a Steinbeck novel and really enjoyed it.
-I read Cloud Atlas, which was made into my favorite movie. I enjoyed that book too. (Seriously though, David Mitchell is a wunderwriter. My goodnasty.)
-I'm running out of highlights. I graduated college? No, definitely not. Too cliche and everyday.
-Oh, got one! This will be the last highlight in a year sprinkled with so many.
I got into Teach for America. Haha.
Honestly though, despite all my negative thoughts directed at the program, it has helped me become whomever it is that I'm becoming, and it's given me an antagonist for the book I've yet to write.
-Okay one more, since my highlights have sunk to such a lowlight level: I ate this really good peanut butter and jelly sandwich in November, and I still remember how moistly delicious the bread was.