It's Been Awhile

Hey there, one of 3 people who read this! It's been a minute. This feels a little like "What Did I Miss?" from Hamilton except I've been at home for 18 months instead of in France. A lot has changed since the last time I published one of these posts. I haven't stopped writing, but I have changed things a bit nonetheless. I have worked up the courage to submit my pieces on a more regular basis to literary magazines and contests. I write some pretty great Instagram captions, if I do say so myself. However, I think it's time I revive this blog and share more thoughts into the internet abyss.

My last published post was about finishing my graduate program, and I feel like I've lived a thousand lifetimes since. We're still up to our eyeballs in Covid-19, though now we have a vaccine that has saved presumably thousands of lives. There are folks who still refuse the vaccine, but I'm not getting into that mess right now. Our lives have all changed in ways we couldn't have imagined before entering a pandemic. Many of us still haven't seen friends and family members for a long, long time. We have faced an unimaginable amount of grief as we learn of the loss of yet another member of our community. It's heartbreaking and all around traumatizing. However, that's not why I'm writing this post. 

If you'll remember, when I first started this blog, the name "99 Days" came to me because I revisited a video journal entry I made that just so happened to be recorded 99 days prior. 99 days became a theme for me, a way I began to think about stretches of time. 99 days ago today was June 6, 2021 and 99 days from now will be December 21, 2021. Neither of those hold any specific significance, so there goes about half the content I was planning for this. 99 days ago, we were nearing the end of a historical school year and ready for a break. In 99 days, we'll be gearing up for Christmas, wrapping last minute presents and picking up forgotten Christmas dinner ingredients at the grocery store. 

Instead of focusing on the last 99 days, I'll update my 3 readers on what's been happening since my last post. In late 2020, I got engaged to my very favorite person in the world. It was no surprise- we had already planned almost our entire wedding, including the date. Because of how things played out at the time with Covid, we had 16 guests at our wedding who were all fully vaccinated. Everything was cheap and simple. We got married on 4/3/21 (get it?!) in my in-laws backyard and I swear it felt like a fairytale. It was the most magical day, and I wouldn't change a single thing about it. I've included some pictures because yes, I am still obsessed with them.

Also notable: I got a new job, and this is perhaps even bigger news than my marriage. If you know me personally, you know I had been job searching for about a year. I have found myself in a job that fulfills my soul in a way I can't describe. Some of my now-favorite people are my colleagues, and I'm excited to wake up each morning and go into the office. Things are different, and things are mostly good. 

As the new Hicks family, we have endured some hardship, as has everyone else. We have tragically lost lives and we have gained precious new ones. There's been triumph, heartbreak, and everything in between. I want to start talking about it again, sharing my experiences and commiserating with those going through similar things. Let's get started (again), shall we? 

Cheers to the last *16-ish months, and on we go to the next.