Closing Out Chapters in My Life
With 2019 coming to an end along with the end of a decade, I have also reached the end of a few major chapters in my life. I have grown in the past ten years, five years, and a lot in the past year. I want to share with you a few of the major events in my life so far.
In 2015, I began my time volunteering with the Chicago Zoological Society at Brookfield Zoo. With the classes, hours of interpretation, service projects, and much more, I accumulated 673 (documented) volunteer hours over the years I was there. I witnessed the opening day of Hamill Family Wild Encounters, was one of the first people outside the animal care specialist team in the Parakeet Aviary, fed a couple otters, and had the opportunity to have meals with many people who are in the conservation field.
In 2016, I lost someone very important in my life. My grandmother was a terrific seamstress, master baker, and chili cookoff champion. She was one of my greatest role models. When I found out, I happened to be at the zoo to watch a tiger tear apart one of the piñatas I made a couple weeks earlier. This event made me write my two poems Butterfly and Years Three. She died two days before my fifteenth birthday, so my birthdays are pretty bittersweet now.
In 2017, I was accepted into the King Conservation Science Scholar's High Flying Scholars pilot program. After an application and an interview, I was the first to be informed out of the eight. We would be going to Sarasota FL in the summer of 2018. We took many classes to prepare us for the research.
2018 was a HUGE year for me. In June, I went to Florida for the big research trip with the zoo and had a great time. The team and I spent a week there to catalog dolphin sightings, take pictures of dolphin fins, and more! 2018 also brought my first Joni and Friends Family Retreat. I even went to Lifest for the first time. In the latter half of the year, I had a secret to keep. My family knew but no one else would find out until August of 2019.
2019 was one of my busiest years. I had my last concert in the orchestra I've been in since I was eleven or twelve (tbh I don't think I told anyone I wasn't coming back the next semester). I was at Brookfield Zoo a lot. In April was a trip to TN, June was two weeks of JAF Maranatha Family Retreat, July was Lifest, August was another week of JAF Urban Family Retreat, and September was the ICHE Family Camp trip. This year was particularly interesting because I made one of the biggest decisions of my life so far. No, I don't have a boyfriend. No, I'm not engaged. I am actually going to be donating a kidney in the very near future. I will go into more detail about that very soon in a new post. I'm waiting a little longer to put it out. It will chronicle the experiences I've had with all of the testing and stuff.
I've grown in maturity (though my brothers may disagree), spiritually, and about an inch taller. I've had many ups and downs and lots of people to help me through it all. I can easily say that this past year was NOT easy. It was really hard for me. At the roughest points, someone would text me out of the blue to check on me. If any of you are reading this, I give you thanks from the bottom of my heart. Someone was always there to listen. So many people told me that if I needed to talk, to let them know.
I've had many opportunities and met many new people. I've performed and listened to music. Some of the songs I've had on repeat can be found in my Spotify playlist, 2019.
I hope all of you have had a wonderful year, and a wonderful decade. I hope that 2020 is better than 2019 for you, and that you take up on opportunities that will help you grow.
Thank you so much for reading! Happy New Year!
In 2015, I began my time volunteering with the Chicago Zoological Society at Brookfield Zoo. With the classes, hours of interpretation, service projects, and much more, I accumulated 673 (documented) volunteer hours over the years I was there. I witnessed the opening day of Hamill Family Wild Encounters, was one of the first people outside the animal care specialist team in the Parakeet Aviary, fed a couple otters, and had the opportunity to have meals with many people who are in the conservation field.
In 2016, I lost someone very important in my life. My grandmother was a terrific seamstress, master baker, and chili cookoff champion. She was one of my greatest role models. When I found out, I happened to be at the zoo to watch a tiger tear apart one of the piñatas I made a couple weeks earlier. This event made me write my two poems Butterfly and Years Three. She died two days before my fifteenth birthday, so my birthdays are pretty bittersweet now.
In 2017, I was accepted into the King Conservation Science Scholar's High Flying Scholars pilot program. After an application and an interview, I was the first to be informed out of the eight. We would be going to Sarasota FL in the summer of 2018. We took many classes to prepare us for the research.
2018 was a HUGE year for me. In June, I went to Florida for the big research trip with the zoo and had a great time. The team and I spent a week there to catalog dolphin sightings, take pictures of dolphin fins, and more! 2018 also brought my first Joni and Friends Family Retreat. I even went to Lifest for the first time. In the latter half of the year, I had a secret to keep. My family knew but no one else would find out until August of 2019.
2019 was one of my busiest years. I had my last concert in the orchestra I've been in since I was eleven or twelve (tbh I don't think I told anyone I wasn't coming back the next semester). I was at Brookfield Zoo a lot. In April was a trip to TN, June was two weeks of JAF Maranatha Family Retreat, July was Lifest, August was another week of JAF Urban Family Retreat, and September was the ICHE Family Camp trip. This year was particularly interesting because I made one of the biggest decisions of my life so far. No, I don't have a boyfriend. No, I'm not engaged. I am actually going to be donating a kidney in the very near future. I will go into more detail about that very soon in a new post. I'm waiting a little longer to put it out. It will chronicle the experiences I've had with all of the testing and stuff.
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| My last day as a volunteer at BZ |
I've grown in maturity (though my brothers may disagree), spiritually, and about an inch taller. I've had many ups and downs and lots of people to help me through it all. I can easily say that this past year was NOT easy. It was really hard for me. At the roughest points, someone would text me out of the blue to check on me. If any of you are reading this, I give you thanks from the bottom of my heart. Someone was always there to listen. So many people told me that if I needed to talk, to let them know.
I've had many opportunities and met many new people. I've performed and listened to music. Some of the songs I've had on repeat can be found in my Spotify playlist, 2019.
I hope all of you have had a wonderful year, and a wonderful decade. I hope that 2020 is better than 2019 for you, and that you take up on opportunities that will help you grow.
Thank you so much for reading! Happy New Year!
- How was your 2019? Your decade?
- What are you looking forward to in 2020?
- Do you have any plans for the next decade?
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