You are '16, going on '17

Looking back it's clear I left a lot on the table in 2016, at least when my year is laid next to the goals I set for myself last year.  I didn't send a single card to a friend.  My Spanish limped along in Nicaragua, and certainly belly-flopped in Spain.  And while I did 14er it with some new hiking buddies, I was not responsible for anyone's first 14er summit.  However, the year was not without merit.  I achieved some goals with gusto and style to spare, and accomplished other things that weren't even on my radar when the year began.  Lest I despair at ending the year where I started, I present my 2016 in review:

• Cheered the Broncos on to a Super Bowl victory
• Cross-country skied for the first time since fifth-grade PE class
• Presented at a fairly major regional nursing conference on a topic that terrifies me
• Pushed my hiking skills to the edge of my comfort zone
  
  
  
  
  
• **Walked over 100 miles on the Camino de Santiago, and actually enjoyed our daily mass-produced pale lager (guess they make 'em better in Spain)

• Reunited with my Nicaragua family: Nola, Doña Carmen, Zindy
• **Figured out what the big deal was about Telluride (I actually liked Ouray better)
• Rode horseback on the beach (I know, I did this last year too, but this year's version was really more how I imagined it, paying a kid twenty bucks to take his horse up and down the sandy shoreline in my swimsuit)

• **Gave a killer Maid-of-Honor toast, if I do say so myself (I actually don't have to say so myself since everyone else keeps telling me)

• Rocked out an entire year of nursing education (with enough success that we're just repeating in 2017, and rolling out to additional sites)
• Hit over a dozen new breweries and tried almost a hundred new beers
• Won free donuts for life! (I had my first one yesterday, and it was fabulous)
• Ice skated on a frozen lake for the first time...didn't fall but it was close
• Built a really awesome fort

• **Ate pulpo and my first raw oyster on the half shell

**My three things outside my comfort zone and one new place, New Year's Resolution, check!

I think by now, y'all can figure out my 2017 resolution.  But I think what I really want out of the year is to pay more attention to the things that matter.  It's not until I've looked back through an entire year of photos and facebook posts that I realize that the things that made me smile the most were spending time with my friends' kids, making up stupid games with my family, taking a chance on a new adventure with new friends and having it exceed expectations, cuddling with my dog, and counting my blessings.  May 2017 bring more of that, and may I not be too preoccupied to appreciate it.