5 Year Check-In

 I think it is time to call attention to the fact that I have had this bloody thing since 2017.

five years. 

FIVE!

Automatically I am drawn to the fact that I have also been vegan for five years. This is also about the time I got Jasper, the best car in the whole wide world (and my current whip). What else was i doing five years ago? What else did I discover? What else have I kept up with / kept a healthy/good/decent relationship with? What else has helped me grow into the person I almost always like being around (It's very nearly always, but we all have those days when we're sick of ourselves)?

My first post: "TAXES 2017"
Posted: March 10th, 2017

According to my instagram, the 10th was the day after I visited Liquid Riot Brewery for the first time and day before I was spoiled with a delicious blueberry oatmeal breakfast (complete with fresh fruit and homemade booch). This is very important. (No it isn't.) (But it did help me better-place my timeline.)

I was living in Maine, roomin' with the old lady (love you, Ma) and so wholly unaware of the adventures to come. I had paid my dues and made good my escape from North Conway New Hampshire a mere two years prior. I was about to have my last day at one of the best/worst restaurant jobs I have ever had. I was about to have my birthday. 

I have since gotten out of the service industry (it always feels like a "for now", but you never know). I have since left Maine and set sails for New York, for love. I have since made the best friend I have ever had and ever will have and, quite frankly, don't know how I was living without them all those years prior. I have published the stories I began writing in my mother's kitchen. lived through (still living through) the oddest couple of years with the pandemic. I have worked in the Chamber of Commerce, a frame shop, a law firm and now a bank. I have allowed my love for writing and yoga and cooking to take over me. I have become braver. I have explored. 

I see my past self as a precious thing; one to take care of, forgive and protect. I see my future self as a mythical creature; one to not rush, to daydream of meeting one day. And I see my present self as a badge of honor; one to wear with pride and celebrate. To remind me of what I have made out of what I found / fought for / was given. To represent what I am made of.