With that, I enjoyed the theme of 2020, looking at the wins of the year in an effort to see the positive in the past to better prime my brain to see it in the present. So, even though I'm typically documenting the successful completion of my annual resolution (still not convinced I was successful this year), here are the top 10 wins of 2022, in no particular order:
- I completed a year in the new job, and am more than halfway to my Black Belt certification. As mentioned last year, it's going to be a while before my confidence in PI grows enough that I feel comfortable. But I'll take the incremental wins of mentoring my first lean belt through certification, presenting a poster at our Quality Improvement Symposium, teaching my first Lean Boot Camp, helping plan team retreats, leading my first Kaizen, surviving my first Command Center ordeals, and most importantly, completing my first Black Belt project (final readout in three weeks will dictate whether or not it passed muster). Stuff I would repeat: cooking class with the team, go-karts and trampoline park adventures, food truck lunches, escape room. Stuff I'd rather not: presenting to the C-suite and senior executive team.
 |
| Cooking a delicious steak au poivre on a "work" retreat |
- Committing to regular volunteering, even if it does stretch me WAY outside my comfort zone. There were some hiccups in the beginning, including a new youth minister, but we're about 8 months in and I'm still standing. So is the youth house, which seems more amazing, given that the teens know where the lighters are. I'm certainly not wowing anyone with my catechetical eloquence or spike-ball prowess, but I am showing up reliably. And as a former youth group junkie, I know that in itself matters.
- An amazing trip back to Italy with an amazing group of women, mostly strangers to start, but fast friends once we got going. Culinary highlights of homemade pasta (and more homemade pasta), cherry gelato, flaky croissants, bacon-wrapped zucchini flowers, and of course, Baci truffles warred with Catholic highlights of visiting JPII's tomb on his feast day (so amazing!!!), climibing la Santa Scala on my knees (not really a highlight physically, that wood is HARD!, but meaningful anyway), loads of relics, and the Angelus with Pope Francis. Throw in some art and history - Caravaggio, the David, the Colosseum, the Pantheon (only 1900 years old) - and some amazing photos, and I'd say it was a pretty bang-up adventure.
 |
| Dusk in Venice |
- Four trips to Omaha, including the blessing of serving as C's godmother at her baptism (I mean, I'll be her godmother for life, but the baptism was a highlight). I had a few false starts in my early trips attempting to work remotely from the basement or the screened in patio. Neither of which actually buffered the toddler screaming or made the saved PTO worth it. Within the Nebraska adventures, we managed to get 6 of 7 former college roommates (+1 honorary) from 5 states together for a Memorial Day grillout. Omaha Humidity 1, The House 0.
 |
| Omaha with the goofballs |
 |
| Not really the most flattering of any of us, but fun anyway |
- Surviving a multi-night backpacking trip with total strangers deserves it's own game of yay-boo. Finally got the layers right for temperature swings- Yay. Phone battery, brick charger battery, and SteriPen batteries all died in the cold- Boo. Aquamira drops saved the day for drinking water, even when filling bottles from a pretty gnarly pond- Yay. Getting surprised in the trees by a bow-hunter while digging a cat hole (at least my pants were still up)- Near Boo. Perfect weather and gorgeous sunsets- Yay. Our guides thinking that Gushers were a good idea for trail snacks- Boo. Sharing stories of my past adventures (Camino, Kili, mission trips, etc.) and realizing that I've lived a pretty blessed life- Yay. Being the oldest on the trip by nearly a decade and having a bedtime about 2 hours earlier than everyone else- Boo. Can I reuse getting the layers right? Seriously people, the right gear is worth its weight in gold, and my apparel and sleeping setup had me very comfortable- Double Yay!
 |
| Rim Lake in the Flat Tops Wilderness |
Other noteworthy events of the year include a summer roadtrip to Montana with the Kolbster, a solo birthday getaway to Granby (highlight- whiskey tasting at Fraser Valley Distilling; lowlight- postholing to mid-thigh on a lake hike), a few trips downtown for some theater (Pretty Woman, The Musical and Much Ado About Nothing were amazing, Cats was less so and I really don't get it), live music at the Greeley Stampede, good sister time on a variety of occasions, and another Silverthorne Thanksgiving complete with the Hallmark movie drinking game.
That Thanksgiving family time of course proved to be the beginning of the end for mom (yes, let's take someone with minimal lung function to 9,000 feet), but it was a nice way to force some togetherness. The year was punctuated with mom moving on to her eternal resting place on the eve of the Immaculate Conception and I'm convinced that her graces were multiplied many times over by having so many masses offered for her on that feast day. Five hundred in attendance to send her off, and 7 priests and 4 deacons on the altar as witnesses to her life of faith and generosity, proved to be significant consolation. And now our patron saint of Euchre is on the other side with her prayers pulling more weight.
 |
| Discovering it had been a while since mom cleaned out the closets |
So I start 2023 grateful for the wins of last year, and also recognizing that there were many hard things and many goals remaining for the coming months. In a new twist, I will end with the word I have landed on as my word of the year for 2023: Receive. I look forward to learning to receive better, receive my identity, receive love, receive compliments, receive rest, receive suffering, receive wonder and beauty. And likely receive humility as I stumble along the way. But it's a word to fully encompass the hope I have for the year, that I may live out the brillant quote from Pope Benedict: "The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness."
