2013: the forest through the trees

Last day of 2013, I've had pizza for my last three meals. I was thinking I didn't want to do a "year in review" because nothing happened. I'm slogging through Lena's winter break, feeling like I'm letting a lot of people down. YOU KNOW, THE USUAL.

And then I remember, 2013. It's been a great year.

So let's recap, shall we? At the end of 2012 I found myself with three interviews to graduate schools. So without further adieu...

January. Lena turned 5, and not that there was any doubt that we would make it five years but...yeah there was a little doubt. Had my first grad school interview at UNC. It was fun. I got to stay at the Franklin Hotel and went "out" one night with a bunch of strangers.

February. Had my second and third graduate school interviews: state and duke. Got acceptances to all three. Got a first author paper, too.

March. Made the toughest easiest choice of my life to attend duke for graduate school. Crazy, right?

April. Wrapped up work at UNC. I MOVED OUT OF MY PARENTS HOUSE. Into an apartment with Lena and Stephanie. It was awesome and such a huge leap but I am so. glad. I did it. Oh and I ran 10 miles.

May. Went on a sweet weekend trip to the mountains with friends. Just building my life, more and more.

June. Started a summer rotation at duke!!!!! Being in a new place, getting connected to the wireless, checking out the library, meeting so many new people. Started talking more with Kevin, my absolutely favorite person in my program so far.

July. Oh did I mention this is month two of my parents being in Singapore? Which is officially the longest time I've been a real single parent. So tough, but this was one of the biggest confidence boosts I've had thusfar. Oh and a guy in my lab convinces me to try OKCupid.

August. SCHOOL STARTS. For me AND Lena. I line up my second, third, and fourth rotations. I start having real conversations with real people about real things. I decide to take a computer science class. I went on a date for the first time, ever, basically.

September. I am in love with a new language, Python! School is hard, but fun. I am loving my next rotation. Discovering more and more things about Duke. So amazed and surprised that I ended up here. Especially since the people I'm rotating with/most excited about I didn't even KNOW about on my interview weekend.

October. So I'd be lying if I said everything was all fine and dandy. October and November were some of my toughest months. The most work, the most writing I've ever done. So many ups and downs, confidence swells and dips. But, I got off three fellowship applications!

December. Lined up my classes for the new year. Doing a couple of cool writing projects. (Reading a story with the Monti in January!) New life motto: "we can't stop here, this is bat country!"

There you have it. It's a pretty amazing year if I stop feeling sorry for myself for two minutes and focus on the immense amount of good that happened this year. 2013 was the best year ever, and 2014 is looking to be even better. I have about a billion things to look forward to, tons of duke stuff, recruitment weekend, choosing a lab! Traveling. Lena is going to be six.

Watch out 2014, we're coming for you.