2021 Recap!!!!!!!!!
2021 has certainly been a year for the record books. There have been higher highs and lower lows than probably any year before it. I think this is my fourth annual recap blog. I was a sophomore in college the first time I wrote one, and oh how much has changed. While last year was the year of the valley, this year felt a lot more like the year of the peak. But I had absolutely no idea what a grueling, tiring climb it would be - how desperately I would have to cling to the Rock of Ages - in order to reach that peak.
A Year in Review
January was a month full of wedding planning. I moved back into Taylor for the first time since March of 2020, where I lived in an apartment with Megan, Reyna, and Audrey, enjoyed morning trips to the gym, long afternoons in the Admissions Office, and tons and tons of reading with my tiny but mighty English capstone class. I visited Joe on the weekends to talk about our honeymoon and wedding colors, and we relished in the excitement of our fast-approaching wedding day.
February brought regular classes on a campus still streaked with caution surrounding COVID-19. The chapel schedule alternated, masks were required, I was sent home on quarantine, and we tried to simultaneously enjoy our last semester of college while also being safe and abiding by the rules. I played intramural volleyball for the first time, became a daily visitor to the Chick-Fil-A line, and took two of the most impactful classes at Taylor U - Functional Fitness and Contemporary Christian Belief. Joe and I made trips to Crawfordsville for premarital counseling sessions and I started practice for my comeback performance as a dancing monkey in the Third West Olson Hall Airband Routine.
March was the start of a dark season for me. It was March that I seriously began applying for jobs, sending my application to schools all over Indianapolis, attending job fairs on Zoom, and desperately hoping for positions close to Joe's school. We also frantically looked for houses only to lose out on offers time and time again. I would skip classes just to look at a house that we either didn't want or couldn't afford, and then we'd do the same thing over again. I sent a spur-of-the-moment email to Alicia Denniston at Westfield High School only two days before Joe had told me we should consider moving to Westfield. I went on frequent walks with Morgan Benson and watched basketball and movies with Megan and Reyna. There was certainly hardship but also much to be thankful for.
So then April was the month of waiting. Waiting and crying and waiting and crying. I was still enjoying movie nights with friends while we all planned weddings, looked for houses, and applied for jobs. I would wake up and run in the mornings once the weather warmed up and I absolutely fell in love with the tiny town of Upland. I would rant to professors about not hearing anything about a job but needing to know where to live and I would cry in the arms of admissions team members like Amy and Jesslyn. I eventually started breaking the COVID protocol and going to chapel even on days I wasn't supposed to because my soul needed to worship. We also placed second in our Airband competition; I attended bridal showers for everyone in the friend group and took a little trip to Florida over my parents' spring break.
It was around the beginning of May when Joe had gotten a job at Westfield and I had been told they passed my application on to other schools. There was devastation and pillow-punching sadness met with the tender comfort of God. This mourning and desperation was also masked by fun end-of-the-year celebrations, final walks with Mags and GG, senior chapel, graduation practice, and as many Casa Grande runs as we could possibly squeeze in. We celebrated and thanked God when I was finally hired by Westfield, and I finished all the last minute details for our wedding day. Graduation was a joyous celebration followed by Holly Hock Hills Fried Chicken, and then I moved home for my final two weeks as a Saunders.
The first week of June was a frenzy but one of my favorite frenzies of all time. My family went to Shades, played Monopoly, enjoyed time together while also loading the church van full of flowers and tablecloths and throwing together a wedding. I married the man of my dreams surrounded by all my favorite people and then flew off to Mexico for a rainy but restful honeymoon. We moved into an apartment on the Carmel-Westfield border (which God miraculously allowed to fall into place) and began summer life together as newlyweds. This included lots of bike rides on the Monon, road trips, pool days, and cooking dinner together. Plus lots of things I cannot mention on a blog :) Ben and Megan got married downtown and we danced until our 9:00 bedtime, not quite making it to the sendoff but celebrating them nonetheless.
July brought lake days with Nic and Hoppy, more apartment-complex pool time, attending church at Castleview, date nights, small group gatherings, and Spikeball. Joe's childhood passion for Code Red Mountain Dew was awoken and we all-too-often walked to the Handels behind our house. We took a trip to Delaware for Karri's wedding followed by a two-day stop in DC on our way home. Married life was a sweet and salty learning curve that brought hard conversations and tons and tons of laughs.
School started in August and the days are a blur. I met 108 of my awesome first-tri students and together, we played the name game, identified figurative language, wrote stories, dressed up for spirit days, and worked through our first days at Westfield together. I had lunch with the hot math teacher down the hall (Mr. House) and laughed a lot with my English team. Reyna got married in Arcadia and even though it was the hottest day of all time, it was also one of the happiest.
September had us in the bleachers of high school football games cheering on the Rocks, coming home after school and falling asleep, trying to wake up for a sunset walk only to fall right back asleep again. We finally felt at home in our apartment and enjoyed having friends over for game nights. I woke up at 6 on Tuesdays to enjoy discipleship groups with ladies from Soma and Joe did the same with the guys on Thursdays. Lilly and I also finally (after 16 years of friendship) figured out how to be less awkward on the phone. We talked every Sunday.
October brought the long-awaited fall break and we packed up the Equinox and headed for the hills of North Carolina for a much-needed getaway. Multiple friends got married, we watched football on Sundays, our Core Team for the church plant began meeting on a regular basis and Joe and I slowly became more able to come home after school and actually stay awake.
November started with finals week as one trimester turned to another; we welcomed new students and implemented new rules; I began struggling through teaching literary analysis but loved having a new bundle of kids combined with the old ones dropping in for a visit. Joe treated me to Matt the Miller's for my birthday, we attended the WHS musical, and we got to spend some time at our parents' houses for a joyful Thanksgiving break. Our apartment became a Christmas wonderland with every decoration my grandmas were throwing out, and we cheered on the Shamrocks as they became state-runner-ups once again.
December came quickly. It started with a joyous celebration of Joe's baptism, lots of holiday parties, Christmas Kahoots in class, tons of grading, more small group gatherings, the wedding of Kade and Audrey, a restful week at home, a sun-seeking trip to Panama City and a whole lot of husband-loving at every moment in between.
I think back to all my moments of fear, panic, anxiety, and even anger, and I am reminded at how abundantly the Lord provided. He was and is present through it all. There are so many moments I missed but I have absolutely loved 2021...and the moments I haven't loved so much, I've loved the growth that has come from them. God is faithful. He is only good.