“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.”
- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens published those words in 1859, yet they summed up my 2024 perfectly. 2024 was a year of contradictions. Joy and sorrow existed together. It is in that duality that both ends of the spectrum can be fully felt.
The broader news and pop culture included the highs and lows of the presidential election, the Olympics, wars overseas, and brat summer.
Personally, my joy existed around live music and travel with friends and family. I also started this blog, which was a goal of mine from the past couple years. My sorrow existed around the decline and loss of loved ones.
Throughout the first half of the year, three large events loomed in the future. One was joyful. The other two were the opposite. By the end of the year, all three of these events happened.
One, was a family trip to Europe that we were planning for November. My husband and I enjoyed the anticipation of planning where to stay and what to do. We decided to start in London and then take the Eurostar train under the English Channel to Paris. We bought tickets to museums and made dinner reservations. It was our kids’ first trip overseas and we were so excited.
The other two events were a friend and a family member with advanced cancer. I’d never experienced someone this close to me and still young be this sick. It’s a different kind of anticipation when someone is declining. It’s the anxiety of planning ahead because you don’t know when you’re going to lose them. In the end, we lost them both within three weeks of each other in the month of August. It was a heavy month.
Fall brought more joyful events to pull us out of our melancholy – two concerts and our trip to Europe. I can truly say I relished every moment of these events in contrast to August. The trip to Europe went smoothly without a hitch. Seeing Europe through the wide eyes of my kids was inspiring.
Throughout the ups and downs of the year I really worked on myself too. I learned about myself and my patterns. We all carry patterns that are laid down when we were kids. We react to certain situations in specific ways. These reactions continue through our whole life. They persist until we can recognize them, connect with them, and listen to them. It’s about developing the language to say how you feel – to both yourself and others.
Throw all these things from 2024 into the pot and mix it around. I don’t know if it’s a net positive or negative but I do know the slate feels clean. As the sun sets on 2024 I feel optimistic and at peace. And of course I wrote this post on a walk to the lake, which is always there for me through the highs and lows of life. Thanks for your support of my blog this year!
Moriya Rufer is a water quality professional with 20 years experience working with lakes in northern Minnesota.
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