Year's End.

I sat down at the computer expecting something poetic and insightful to come to mind, but I find myself with few revelations to offer. I intended to sum life up in a few sentences based on just twelve months, as we often try to do at year's end, but nothing I write feels adequate to describe what the last year has meant to me.

2009 feels like a decade ago. This year, I have studied for and taken the LSAT, graduated from college, moved to Germany without a job, succeeded at getting a job, failed at getting a visa, lost my job, and then succeeded at getting another job. Nothing about the last year has gone according to plan, and, like the glimmer from a silver lining, there is something beautiful in that. If I have learned anything from this last year, it's that when expectations fall apart, life carries on without want or worry.

Right now, the sky is filled with the bursts and blooms of celebration. A continuous thunder fills the air as Berliners throughout the city launch fireworks to the crest of the skyline in recognition of another year past, and I'm reminded of how much I truly appreciate everything that has happened in these last twelve months. I owe so much to everyone for their support and confidence. It's been tremendously challenging at times, but I'm here relatively unscathed and I'm staring headlong into another year that promises even more adventure and discovery.

From time to time, I have joined the revelers with my own rockets, precariously launched from an empty wine bottle through our kitchen window. Regardless of what happens from here on out, I am happy right now, and I'll remember the time I've spent here fondly. And I have a lot to look forward to: new sights, new people, a new year, and, when the time comes, long-awaited reunions; but right now, all I'm thinking about is how many of these rockets I can manage to launch out this window at one time. Like father like son, I suppose.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

By the way, Berlin, the city that defines what is hip and fashionable throughout Europe, rang in 2011 with David Hasselhoff and Paul Potts. O Germania, how I will miss thee.

"In the New Year" by The Walkmen