2021 survey in Life

Dating
I dated for a while, then got engaged, then got married, all this year!

Current Status: married!

Work
I’ve been at my job for 9 years this month. Starting to hate the way students complain about you, like you cannot have struggles in your life because you have to be perfect or students complain. It’s just a high anxiety time and a high anxiety generation and it’s getting harder and harder to feel good about work.

Travel
Visited New York 3 times to visit abandoned asylums. Finally went back to Disney/Universal in December!

Life
One of the best things happened this year (married!) and one of the worst (miscarriage). plus Covid, the neverending stress of coparenting, a kidney stone fiasco. Lots. haha

What did you do in 2021 that you had never done before?
I got pregnant and then had a miscarriage. (woo) Also got engaged and got married.

Did you keep last year’s resolutions, and will you make more?
I don’t think I made any last year but we were already trying to get pregnant then, so obviously i hoped for that. At that time, I was pretty sure we’d have a kid and get married somewhere down the road, but that changed in January.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes my best friend. But I haven’t seen her or the baby much due to covid and I guess growing apart. :(

Did anyone close to you die?
no

What countries did you visit?
oh man, does epcot count?

What would you have liked to have in 2021 that you lacked?
A baby. Is this whole survey going to be about babies? Yes, probably.

What dates from 2021 will remain etched in your memory?
October 30th- wedding!
July something (I don’t care to remember the exact day)- miscarriage
April 18th- engaged (as big as it was i had to check the date, i picked an easy wedding date on purpose so i wouldn’t forget)

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Married my love! And planned that wedding in like 5 months!

What was your biggest failure?
Baby :(

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes, i had a miscarriage in July.
In August, i got my first kidney stone, which was horrendous, as they say, and also drug on for like 6 weeks which is apparently NOT normal and it was a pretty terrible time. I HATTEEE hospitals and never go and ended up there twice in a month for miscarriage and kidney stones. And should have gone back another time for kidney stone but refused. ANDDDD I have another kidney stone in the other kidney so I’m just waiting for the next incident.

What was the best thing you bought?
Wedding! My parents paid for a lot of it, but i paid for the vendors and the photographer and rings were really really good ways to spend money. It was a magical day and I’m glad we’ll always have the mementos of it. Feel really lucky to have had just the day I wanted, small, on the beach ceremony, reception at a very “us” place, outside, casual and low key. It was perfect.

Where did most of your money go?
Keeping a family afloat since all Chris’ money is STILL going to the trailer we don’t live at. And wedding stuff.

What did you get really, really excited about?
Being pregnant obviously! For a few days. And I was so excited to marry my love.

What song will always remind you of 2021?
Forever by John Stamos because I was pushing HARD for it to be our wedding song and then it ended up just being funny. Runner up: As Long as I Can See The Light by CCR which Chris picked as our actual song

Compared to this time last year, are you:
A) Happier or sadder? Happier
B) Thinner or fatter? maybe a touch thinner
C) Richer or poorer? DEFFFF poorer but when we sell the trailer it’ll be better

What do you wish you’d done more of?
Walking for exercise.

What do you wish you’d done less of?
ANXIETY but like it’s anxiety so you can’t choose. haha. I wish I’d done less miscarrying babies too. haha

What was your favorite month of 2021?
Normally I’d say summer because we get that extra time with little one, but summer SUCKEDDD because of the medical situations, so we’ll give it to October because wedding.

Did you fall in love in 2021?
I think it’s a good policy to continue falling in love as a choice so yes :)

What was the best book you read?
A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw. I was a little disappointed by my books this year (I read 50), but ended on a good note.

What was the worst book you read?
The Dating Plan probably. I usually end up hating whatever romance i read haha.

What was your greatest musical discovery?
none really! just listened to people i already loved!

What did you want and get?
married!

What did you want and not get?
baby, obviously

What was your favorite film this year?
OMG did i watch any new movies this year? probably not!

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 37. I was panicky beforehand about getting older and not having a baby because of the miscarriage and then Chris gave me a hard time about wanting to go to philly to go to ikea to get stuff for the house, so i legit went back to bed and just cried by myself for a while. it wasn’t my best. i did go out with my parents too. and chris got up early to go get me presents . OH and we were supposed to be at disney so that was also why i was depressed.

What’s one thing that would have made your year infinitely more satisfying?
do i need to say this again? baby

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2021?
SOFT. Leggings, sweats, hoodies, comfy pjs. I mostly wore pjs. And even my sweatpants and pjs had to be super super soft not just regular! I’m done with uncomfortable clothes forever, pretty sure.

What kept you sane?
My husband. Ever since we met he’s been able to calm my anxiety. His presence sometimes, his touch, sometimes what he says. He gets me, and that’s really really nice. (Not that he doesn’t make me mad or upset at times)

Who were the best new people you met?
Not a big year for broadening my horizons. I met some new students as I always do but in my personal life, in real life no one. Have met a few new people on here though and that’s cool, especially since i don’t have to worry about the virus when I talk to new people here… haha

Tell us a valuable lesson you learned in 2021.
More of a reiteration, but you can be strong enough and you can survive. Tragedy is terrible, but one day a time, you can move forward.