2011 By the Numbers

Welcome back! This is my obligatory Year in Review post, to help herald in 2012. Consider it my belated family-of-one Christmas letter. :)

ZERO set-in-stone plans for my future, and zero job offers, but I'm hopeful and remarkably content with things anyway.

ONE college degree. <--- Those three simple words carry so much emotion, stress, and achievement behind them. I did it. It's taken me my whole life, but I did it.

TWO unexpected answers to prayers that I never actually prayed---the first, I loved my capstone literary class, which was something I expected to just have to suffer through. Surprisingly, the Lord sort of tricked me into signing up for a class that would become the best one I've ever taken (I seriously thought I'd signed up for a different section than the one I got). The second, I found a best friend in Bountiful, which was a prayer I hoped for, but never actually had the courage to say aloud. After all, you can only have so many best friends, right? I figured I was full-up on my quota of people who love me unconditionally. Turns out I was wrong.

THREE Boatright sisters who seem to have had a goal this year to prove to me that I have so much more family than genetics would indicate. Qait is a given, of course, but Maddie, Abby, and Rae have all shown the same kind of sisterly love and attachment. It may sound silly, but I always feel surprised and touched to find out that people love me as much as I love them.

FOUR months spent at the Ensign, which has been the most rewarding experience of my life.

FIVE years since I graduated from high school. Exactly. I finished high school in December of 2006. I feel only a little nostalgic about this. This year also marked the first time I spent Thanksgiving with my family in five years. I felt much more nostalgic about this.

SIX months are up: My student loan payments start now. I only mention this because it connects to another major achievement this year: I'm financially stable. Well and truly financially stable. I've been providing for myself for the last 5 years, but there's a difference between paying for all your own stuff and knowing how to do it smartly. Thanks to some valuable lessons from my parents, and some trial-and-error on my part, I feel like I've figured out the latter---and it's come back to bless me as I face impending unemployment. 

SEVEN gorgeous decorative pillows that came with the bedding I bought for my new apartment in Bountiful. I moved out of Provo much sooner than I'd originally thought I would, but it seemed like the right thing to do, and I've been so blessed in my new life. Provo will always have a special spot in my heart (no matter how much people like to make fun of it), but it's good to move on.

EIGHT hours spent reading a whole book in one sitting. That's not my fastest time, but it marked the return of my time to read for pleasure back in May. Since then, I have luxuriated in all the time I have to read, and I've devoured so many books this year. It's probably my favorite part of being graduated. 

NINE months that Brian has been out on a mission. In that time, he has remained my best friend, and he continues to inspire me to be a better person, even though he's so far away.

TEN days on a houseboat on Lake Powell this summer, the best vacation that I ever had to be talked into. It reminded me again that my extended family is wonderful, and they're happy to be there for me when my immediate family is miles and miles away.

Lesson Learned - The biggest thing I've learned from this past year? It's that the Lord guides our every step if we let Him. And He knows a better trail through the woods than we do. I have had my prayers answered and my dreams fulfilled (or helped out, if they haven't been fulfilled yet) in ways I never would have thought, but looking back, it makes a lot more sense than my plan did. The people I've worked with at the Church Magazines all have amazing stories of how they ended up doing what they're doing. When it comes down to it, I think everyone does. When you look back and see how your life has led up to the point it's at, it can be pretty amazing. To me, it's proof that my steps have been guided.

I had no way of knowing back when I joked with my high school classmate about editors and authors (ironically, she wanted to be the editor and I wanted to be the author---both of us have switched, now) that the knowledge we gained compiling seemingly useless trivia would actually contribute to me finding out that I really wanted to be an editor. Nor could I have guessed that jobs I thought were random and not really directly in my career path have actually made my career possible.

It gives me hope that my current choices, as shot-in-the-dark-ish as they feel to me, will yield similar results. The Lord knows where He wants me. The lessons I've learned this last year have made it possible to handle the pressure I'm facing now, at the start of 2012.

I look forward to yet another year of amazing experiences.