Five years ago I started a New Year’s Eve tradition. A few hours before the fun and festivities began, I took half and hour or so to go through all the little paper mementos I kept throughout the previous year. I thought about the memories that they represented and all the people who were a part of building those memories. Then I wrote a short note reflecting on the past year and the one ahead.
Since then I have kept up this tradition, keeping a jar on my dresser and tossing little things in along the way: movie stubs, bus tickets, boarding passes, event tickets, coins, and more. It gives me an opportunity to celebrate and remember the year behind me, and to begin the new year fresh and full of potential.
Today I continued that tradition. I packed up all the paper mementos I collected throughout the year. The cards that were given to me at my going away party. The receipt for the Chinese food my “little” sister had delivered to my going away party. Eleven months of BKK public transit passes. Boarding passes from Spokane to Budapest, from Budapest to Malta, Cologne, & Prague. Bus tickets to go on adventures with friends, museum, concert, and gallery tickets from those adventures. I have the receipt from the burger place we went to my last night in Malta where I introduced my new friends to the concept of french fries in ice cream. A piece of weird anise candy I won playing trivia with a new friend from Brazil while I was on vacation in Prague. My speed friendshipping bingo board from Riverside Exit Group. And the invitation to watch my friend’s szalagavató performance.
In a few hours my house will be loud and full of friends. It will be so much fun and together we will say goodbye to Twenty Eighteen and hello to Twenty Nineteen, but before that happens I will take a moment to remember all of the adventures of the past year and more importantly the people who were a part of them. To friends and family both near and far, thank you for being a part of my year, and a part of my life. This year has held so much more than I ever expected, and I am so excited to see what the next year holds.
Happy New Year with Much Love,
Elyse
A Journey In Missions 