remembering 2024

this will be one shot attempt at remembering the year of 2024. just sequential memory in a concise format. at the end, i'll add a summary paragraph of some contextual thoughts. overall, this was an important and hard year. for that, I am thankful.


January

  • Sadie and I said that this is going to be our year. on January 2nd, we had a miscarriage in our third pregnancy. 
  • the whole month was, from what i recall, a blur and just hard. 
  • i made chocolate chip cookies probably 3 or 4 days a week to cope.
  • we cried a lot. i looked at Sadie a lot and thought about this promise from our wedding: "I will wait with you in sorrow."
  • took Greta on a solo (flying) trip to Mississippi to celebrate my dad's retirement from ~35 years in the Mississippi Highway Patrol. that was beautiful.

February

  • after a year of freelancing, gigging, and cobbling together an income, i decided to enroll in a bootcamp for business intelligence.
  • it was interesting, but it was also practical. i felt (and still feel) pretty square-peg-in-round-hole with the credentialism of the job market and i thought this would be a way out of that.
  • it was right to take an action.
  • i was really committed to it. i had lots of free time with freelancing being slow, so i got ahead very quickly. 
  • i stopped working on my first entrepreneurial/indie hacking venture, Brain Trust. that project gave me the bug and it hasn't gone away :)

March

  • a full-time job opened at my friend's company as a recruiter, something i'd done a mix of in the past, and i took the job.
  • not my favorite thing, but a steady income for a while has been a good thing. plus, it's remote and non-intrusive on my life
  • we got pregnant again! 
  • this was a beautiful gift. we got excited and much more nervous about stability and well-being in those early days.

April

  • i can't remember what i remember from April...
  • Easter? that was a good day
  • Ville to Ville, a relay race i do with my sister in law and some friends from Asheville to Greenville was this month, i think
  • i think i also started training for my first attempt at 100 miles

May

  • Black Mountain Monster attempt: 24 hour race, i was attempting to run 100 miles. it was a 3 mile looped course that's about a mile from the house. couldn't pass it up! made it 10 hours. my friend Doug really pushed me to get back out there. wouldn't do it haha. this was an awesome day for presenting very clearly to me the fact i have a loving family and really good friends

June

  • birthday month! Shepherd first, then me, then Sadie, three weeks in a row. Sadie organized friends getting together for my birthday which was really special.
  • really lived up summer. i remember telling everyone that we were loving it. big to-do for Sadie with the kids' preschool being closed and being pregnant and me working.
  • i got really into watching short films on YouTube this month and started making some running videos
  • i also started a running project to run 12 miles a day for 6 months. i tracked pretty closely until September (coming soon).

July

  • again, i just remember "summer"
  • going out to parks/brewery/walks after work
  • meeting up with friends as much as possible
  • farmers market for cinnamon rolls with the kids on Saturday mornings

August

  • Oregon to visit grandparents!
  • we were there for 2 weeks. it was awesome.
  • carousel with the kids
  • park with the kids
  • running project
  • and capped with a baby moon to the Oregon Coast with Sadie. 
  • we had such a good time! beach. chowder bowls like every day. outlet malls! haha. Newport history museum. just really beautiful and healing after the miscarriage.

September

  • on the 27th, Hurricane Helene hit western NC and really threw life up in the air
  • our house was pretty effected. thankfully we could get out, so we went to stay with my parents in MS for an uncertain amount of time.
  • ended up being 2 weeks and then we came home. 
  • until December 18th, we lived outside of our home at two different friends' houses. 
  • it was, again, pretty challenging. 
  • for the most part, i was just down in it and discounting my own experience while trying to figure all the details of what to do about our house, find stability for the family, and hoping for Sadie and the oncoming baby to be well. 
  • post-September has essentially been a second year inside of this one. 
  • i wrote about the hurricane experience here.

October

  • back in Black Mountain :)
  • halloween! extra fun on Church Street and around town this year
  • lots of friends had moved back at this point so it was rich to get back together and begin healing together

November

  • Goldie came a month early! 
  • she came in a hurry and it was a bit scary on the front end for her well-being and during delivery for Sadie, but we're safe and healthy.
  • she was just ready to roll knew we were ready for all teh beauty and wonder she's brought us. we couldn't stand to not have her in the world any longer. 
  • thanks be to God for this baby. 
  • the 4 days we were in the hospital, cocooned together, were really wonderful and good.
  • the kids had a big sleepover with our good friends and that gave us joy too that when it came time for help, our friends were ready to help.
  • we moved back into our house for a night before discovered undone work that required us to move out again. not a good experience.

December

  • just lots of anticipation for moving back home.
  • busiest month of the year too! 
  • Holly Jolly in town.
  • Christmas plays.
  • friends parties.
  • grandparents here.
  • date nights!
  • 3 kids! 
  • finally moved home on the 18th and took a deep breath.
  • Christmas. that was a beautiful day. 


the through line of this year - the context - is that life is just incredibly dynamic and beautiful. it's begging for you (me) to participate and act on it, not just waiting for it to happen. 

it is true, too, that at times it happens to you. it shoves you around. nudges you. rug pulls you. but, i don't think it's mean. i don't think it's indifferent to you (me). it seems as if it's mostly telling you (me) that you should heavily invest in your community and friendships because they are what will tell you that you're okay when you are shoved around. they'll reaffirm your humanity, your actual physical safety, and will welcome you when you need welcoming. 

i'll be surprised if we ever move out of this valley. it is the best asset i'll ever have. our friendships, our church, my coffee shop, the parks my kids play in. it is everything.

this year brings that to the surface.