Year in Review: 2024(shawn’s version)

Despite the chaotic start to the year we’ve had (hence the serious delay in this New Year’s letter, but those are stories for next year), I can’t believe I’m already reflecting on a year full of sparkly nights, fearless days, and enchanted memories.

A year ago, Shawn and I made the return road trip home to the West Coast with kitties in tow. It was a delight to bring them with us for the holidays and an even wilder time getting them home. The miracle of vet-prescribed drugs gave us a full day of peaceful driving, a gift we paid for every night. Like toddlers, their pent-up energy came due. Unlike toddlers, they can scale curtains.

In February, I set out on what I expected to be a 6-month job hunt. The news—and my friends—made it clear: the tech job market was tough. I figured I’d use the time to enjoy part of another fun summer, maybe even stall long enough to finish hiking the

Pacific Crest Trail

.

Four weeks later, I surprised even myself by signing an offer with the financial startup

Order.co

. Goodbye to briefly-held summer plans, ha!

We celebrated with a last-minute ‘jobby moon’ in Mexico before I started in March. I’m sure it will surprise no one that all-inclusive beach vacations aren’t typically my top pick. Hanging out in Puerto Vallarta with few real plans was a perfect way to end an 18-month sabbatical that had been absolutely crammed with doing and going.

In April, we hosted my dad to celebrate his 60th birthday and invited my youngest brother, Joe, to join. Joe arrived in time for us to celebrate my birthday skiing together—did you know lift scanners play a special sound for birthdays?!

From there, Shawn & I headed to Reno to pick up my dad and have a birthday brunch together. I took full advantage of my rights as birthday girl by subjecting our whole party to a sunset wine flight at our

favorite wine bar

. Shawn and my dad were gracious enough to also give downhill skiing another try a few days later. By “gracious,” I mean they hated wasting money more than giving it another try since I’d already booked their non-refundable ski lessons and rentals.

The rest of the week was more oriented towards celebrating Dad’s birthday: a snowmobiling tour, a

paddleboat dinner cruise

across Lake Tahoe, the

National Automobile Museum

, and even a visit to Nevada’s

oldest thirst parlor

.

A month later, we had a medley of events spanning five consecutive weeks on the East Coast. They were close enough in timing that we had no interest in crisscrossing the country for just a few days at home. It is also way too long to board the kitties and especially too long to beg the neighbors to keep watch over them.

So, we took the cats on their first flight in May.• First stop: Maine.

Our first weekend was spent belatedly celebrating Mother’s Day with my mom on a

foodie tour in Portland

. Like

Cornelia Street

come to life, every bite and step through Portland felt unforgettable. During the week, we’d work from her kitchen table as the cats kept watch over the neighborhood.

After a few days in Maine, Shawn and I hugged the kitties goodbye before Mom dropped us off at her local train station. She graciously agreed to watch over her grand cats while we headed south with

Welcome to New York

on repeat.

For the first time in over four years, I worked out of a proper company office as

Order.co

is headquartered in Manhattan. At night, we would visit beloved locals like my Grandaddy Terry and my college bestie,

Conrad

.

By the weekend, we were celebrating Caitlin and Turner’s wedding. The hen & stag night ended with introducing Shawn to his first slice of New York pizza (3 days too late if you ask him) before finally heading back to our hotel at 3AM.Determined to get to bed earlier the next night in anticipation of Saturday’s wedding, we committed to a “chill” dinner with Conrad. We still found ourselves finishing the night at 3AM! Despite our lack of sleep, we soaked in every moment of Caitlin & Turner’s marital bliss in a lovely garden ceremony and sunset cruise.

Our train left early the following day, as we were expected for dinner in Maine that night to meet up with Shawn’s Star Wars buddies, Ed and Jimmy. Jimmy and his family hosted us for our first lobster boil, graciously mentoring us in the ways of lobster dissection.

We ended Memorial Day weekend with

a historical tour in New Hampshire

and another failed attempt at enjoying oysters. Sorry, Mom, they’re still gross. As much as we had crammed into the last week, it was nice to have a couple of “normal” working days at her house, with evenings spent relaxing and enjoying each other’s company.

Come Wednesday evening, the cats were drugged for 10,000+ ft travel to Indiana so we could see our niece, Ellie, graduate from high school the next evening.•• As we spent time with the Hoffmans over the next week preparing for her graduation party, I couldn’t help but feel so happy to be part of these smaller moments of day-to-day life with them. Sure, the big moments push us to buy cat drugs and book travel, but the time in between—running errands or simply being together—has been just as meaningful.

Being at her party with the broader friends and family group felt strange, too. It is a rare occurrence that I see the kids’ other grandparents and the broader Hoffman family in one place. What a joy to finally meet the cousin’s new baby and catch up on the little goings on in everyone’s lives. I’ve likely attended the last graduation of any of my own friends now. From here on, it’s the next generation’s turn for their big events—

Time, curious time, gave me no compasses, gave me no signs

.

The morning after Ellie’s graduation party, I was back on a plane for a solo trip to New York. Over the next few days, my company’s annual summer meetup took place, complete with a golf Scramble. Yes, it was my first time golfing, and I’m as terrible at it as you’d expect.

On my last night there, I learned that my Aunt Shannon had passed away, just weeks shy of her 54th birthday. The news was a shock. Only six months earlier, she and my cousin Tyler had welcomed us into their home for my uncle’s funeral, where we spent late nights in heartfelt conversation.

It is those small moments like making deviled eggs for Thanksgiving or spending hours on her couch trying to beat Donkey Kong Country 2 together that I will forever cherish. When I couldn’t afford to leave Memphis for college, she cried with me, believing in my potential more than I ever did. If I can carry even half of her unwavering faith in me, I’ll be better for it.

The next day, still in disbelief, I went to see my grandfather in New Jersey. We shared quiet moments of grief as he prepared for the drive south and before I caught my flight west.

The quiet moments were brief. Flight delays had me landing in Reno just hours before Shawn, the cats, his mom, and our nephew Dexter landed for his “California with Grandma” trip. We covered a lot of ground in a week: from Tahoe to Yosemite to Santa Cruz to San Francisco, even squeezing in a tour of the

Jelly Belly factory

before saying goodbye in Sacramento.

The day after dropping them off, we started our summer at home with the local

Tahoe is for Lovers

festival just as Pacific Crest Trail thru-hikers began to arrive in town. We spent a lot of time on the Pacific Crest Trail this summer, but none of it as hikers. If we weren’t hosting or driving thru-hikers to and from the nearest trailhead, we were clearing brush or learning how to use a crosscut saw to remove downed trees as

volunteers on trail crews

. We loved trail projects so much that by the end of the summer, we had racked up over 100 volunteer hours each.

As summer began to wind down at the end of September, the travel started to pick up again. We squeezed in a quick trip to Sacramento to see one of my favorite artists,

Kacey Musgraves

, the night before I flew out to Toronto for a

tech conference

. I was home for a few weeks before we returned to the Reno airport again, bound for Las Vegas.

We stayed in

the arts district

for the first time to see a different side of Vegas as part of Shawn’s belated birthday celebrations. After a stint at

Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart

and a day of art galleries, we arrived at the

When We Were Young

festival as patrons of a different kind of art.

More of the artists we love have been committing to full play-throughs of a single album at festivals, and they are becoming my highlights of the event. There’s something truly special about hearing a set where you’ve listened to the songs themselves countless times in that very same order but have never heard most of them live. It is a delight to have a song finish, know exactly what is coming next, and feel giddy for that next track. My teenage self could have never imagined I would get the chance to hear

Cartel

play their

Chroma

album or

The Black Parade

from

My Chemical Romance

.

With some time to kill before we needed to be in Indianapolis, we flew into St. Louis for a quick visit with our friend, Eric, before driving up to visit Ellie, who is in her first year at Purdue. Since Purdue is Shawn’s alma mater, I got the full tour treatment between the two of them and Ellie’s friends.

We made it to Indianapolis in time to celebrate Halloween dressed as “Uncle Rad” and “Aunt Frisky” with the rest of Shawn’s family. If you still haven’t seen it, I implore you to watch an episode of

Bluey

.

I took the following day off, not to recover from Halloween but to enjoy the start of the biggest concert weekend of my life. The sun still hadn’t risen as we waved goodbye to Shawn’s mom, hoping we timed it right to avoid traffic despite having 12 hours until showtime. We walked through downtown Indy, passing a lighting marquee covering an entire building to ask if we were

Ready For It…?

We passed

“All Too Well

Way,” crossed “

Bejeweled

Blvd” and followed “

Style

Dr” to find

a coffee shop

slipping friendship bracelets over coffee collars to denote the names of specialty drinks: “

Lavender Haze

” and “

Out of the Woods

.” If none of those hints (or all the previous song lyrics) gave any indication, maybe the 34-story-tall Taylor Swift graphic we strolled by will.

I’ve never seen a town so fully immersed in the world of a single artist. From

that first coffee

to two different brunches (

Plat 99

&

Skyline Club

) to

a fully themed pre-party

to a

glittery after-party

, everywhere was in on it.

A local florist

had even jumped into the weekend’s festivities by offering a DIY “Eras” flower crown workshop.

I’ll never forget the delight of flying through downtown Indy on rented scooters, trying not to lose our crowns from atop our heads as we rushed off to a pre-party, stoked for the

Enchanted

night ahead. The crowns made it and looked great in all the silly photo ops for each era, but we spent most of the event in the “kitten rooms” playing with adoptable kittens.

Maybe too much time was spent with kittens as we ended up hearing the entire opening act from the hall while we waited in line for wristbands that would allow us to access the floor. In the end, I think it was better as it saved us from pre-concert chats with those around us.

Not that I’m unfriendly, but I hadn’t seen

the concert film on Disney+

yet and had forbidden any of our friends from sending me tour content. I was finally going to my first Taylor Swift concert, and I wanted all of it to be a surprise. It’s easier to manage spoilers when you aren’t on social media. Well, at least it was until we were in the same city as 70,000+ (per night!) other eager fans. 

I’ve gone to plenty of concerts for my teenage self over the years, but this was one of a different kind. Not just in genre but in production levels and, well, the kind of thing I’m less inclined to share with others that I actually enjoy. I’ve always been happy to share the pop-punk and alternative bands I listen to, but have felt oddly embarrassed to admit I listen to Taylor Swift. I remained a closeted fan until

Conrad

decided to make use of the postcards that came with the original Target edition of the

Red

album, outing me as a fan to the roommate who grabbed the mail and then everyone who saw it atop the stack of mail over the next day or so. Over the last few years, Shawn and I have embraced what we love unapologetically, often repeating the words of our good friend,

Eric

: “Ace job liking what you like.”

Speaking of

Conrad

, his work trip to SF was perfectly timed so we could meet up in Napa the weekend after the show for a full debrief amid fall colors and

Cabernet in hand

—solving all our ‘

Champagne Problems

‘ one sip at a time. Without him, I’d never know the latest Tay-Anon theories or bother to imbibe in culture of the grape variety.

After being gone so much of the year, we opted out of any travel for the holidays. Shawn experimented with new recipes (from his holiday candies to baked goods) as I prepped the house for company. After the traditional morning FaceTime session with family, we spent the rest of Christmas Day skiing at our favorite local resort,

Kirkwood

. A few days later, we welcomed the last guest of the year, Victoria, to celebrate the new year together.

Reflecting on the next generation starting up their big milestones while enduring the pain of watching those we love lose their health or leave us forever has me feeling more grateful for the whole “getting older” thing than younger me would have expected. I’m

happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time

, but I’m so thankful for it all. Teenage me couldn’t even dream up this lucky life. I’m so grateful to be able to set aside time to remind myself how fortunate I am to have a year like this and to have you,

dear reader

, in my little community to receive it.

Wishing you a 2025 that feels like a masterpiece, with every love, every choice, and every mistake.