2012

With the year winding down, I've been spending some time "reflecting" on the events of this year, the friendships that have come & those that have gone, reactions to situations & just how life has changed overall in 2012...turns out, I had a TON of changes this year, more than I truly thought!

 

I spent New Years Eve 2011 ringing in the new year with B & his daughter & his family out at his mom's place in Greenville. I mean, who doesn't love spending time around a bonfire in December?!

2012 was an interesting one when it comes to B...lots of ups, lots of downs & eventually it was just time to part ways & move on. I truly wanted a better outcome for us than we did, but it's hard when you know that you're not a priority in someone's life. School & his daughter were it & I fit in when it worked for him. In the end, although I am far from being the girl who needs constant attention from her guy, getting attention every few weeks when he doesn't have anything else going on just doesn't cut it & I think that goes for almost anyone.

The year itself was a blur to say the least, but some of the highlights:

• joined FC Awesome Soccer & met some great friends
• ran the Hot Chocolate 5K here in Dallas (at race time, the temperature was 28 with a windchill of 17...needless to say, it was miserable, but I finished!)
• was a part of A's bachelorette & wedding parties
• parents moved to the Hill Country
• started dating J (only to stop dating him after a few weeks...not fun)
• ran the Sudan Footrace
• FC Awesome Soccer Family birthdays
• lots of friends had babies born this year
• almost bought a house
• moved to a new apartment
• AND...started dating the most amazing guy!

I think that some of the biggest "positive" things to come out of this year include: Alex, not buying the house & soccer, haha! I joined the "Family" January 3 & have grown to love the crazy group...had I not decided to take Elliott up on his offer to join, I would never have started playing at AI & it's highly unlikely that I would have ever met Alex either & THAT would be a tragedy :) And the house situation, I'm just glad that for once, I didn't keep pushing so hard to make something work out. Sometimes, it's definitely very good to take a step back to see the real picture & figure out if it's something you need - not want, but need - to continue to push for or if it's time to walk away. In this case, I'm very happy I walked away.

 

Let's get back to Alex, my amazing guy, haha! Like I said, if I hadn't joined FC Awesome in January, I would never have met Alex & knowing just how happy I am now, that would have been a serious alteration in my life if that were the case. I'd seen Alex around AI when I first started playing there - he was a referee for some of our games, but I didn't think anything of it (other than he looked a lot like my friend, Nick).

 

Two seasons later, my team needed a keeper & turned out, Alex was that keeper we picked up! As a defender on the team, you get to know your keeper pretty well on the field. Other that that, we really didn't talk much until we won our league & he sent a little note on good ol' FB. That was the only contact we had for a few more months - we picked up another keeper the next season & we went our separate ways.

 

Fast forward to the house situation & I get a message from him with contacts for mortgage brokers to try to get my house closed on time since my original lender pulled the rug out from us & needed to close much later than originally requested because he had other deals he needed to do first. A few more messages were exchanged...then a few more...then it turned into talking all day, everyday & turned out, we have a lot more in common than we thought! A few months later, I'm beyond happy with the relationship we've developed together & can't wait to see where we continue to go!

 

I love that our time together is spent at home instead of needing to go out to a bar or restaurant every weekend. Most of the time, it means cooking together, watching movies & just being silly. I'm so glad to have found someone that goes out of his way (all on his own) to find gluten free things for me or when he cooks, he makes sure to leave out anything that might make me sick. I love that we can be silly & have fun together. I love how he is with his goddaughters & just how proud he is to be a part of the girls' lives & how much they love him. And even though this time of year is the busiest & most stressful for him, I know that even though we don't get to spend tons of time together, we still make the time to do that, even if it means we both work on the living room floor, just so we can be together, haha!

Needless to say, 2012 started out pretty well, but it's the end of it that's turned out to be my favorite. Bring on 2013!

♥Linz