2024 has been one of the best years of my life. Some really huge things happened, like finishing my program and stepping into my new career, as well as marrying the love of my life and officially blending our families. 

It all comes with a tremendous amount of emotion. I don’t know if I ever truly believed that I would be at this point in my life. It was a fantasy in my head for years and years. Most of my teenage and adult life. To step out of the fantasy and look around at the beautiful life I have now, I do have to pinch myself occasionally. As I shared with my husband on our wedding day this past summer, I am counting my lucky stars every single day. 

None of it fell into my lap, nor was any of it easy, and I think we often mistake pain and hardship going hand in hand. I no longer believe that they do. This year of my life was full of hardship, but I was so eager and excited for all of it. I was happy working through it. I was happy achieving the goals, and I’m happier still as I settle into the new comfortable routine of my career and home life. 

I’ll talk about my college experience first…

I have some intense feelings about this because going to college for the first time as a 36-year-old woman is not an easy task. I truly thought I was going to fail. I did not believe in my ability to pass college-level classes or retain information with my terrible ability to hold onto information. I thought the trauma of my life experiences had truly ruined my brain, and stunted my ability to learn new concepts or progress into a meaningful life. It’s not just about affording opportunities, but also being able to process them. There was a point where it was all too much for me, and I had to decide to leave my job and focus on this big scary thing, even though I wasn’t sure I would make it. That’s terrifying, especially as a single mother, and I haven’t expressed that openly to anyone other than the 3 or 4 people who had to hold me up emotionally to get me through it. Ultimately, I spent two years in college. The first year was working slowly on pre-requisite classes so I could get into the Medical Assisting program that I had my heart set on. I began in the fall of 2022, and in the summer of 2023, I was accepted into the program. A huge milestone, and the work was only just beginning. I got my first set of scrubs and began the real work. It was exhausting. It was scary. It was thrilling. Some of it was easier than I imagined. Some of it was harder. Some of it I learned I enjoyed, like drawing blood, and I hadn’t expected that. I took every opportunity that I could, to be part of everything that was offered to me. I sat with my program director at multiple events where I was able to share my experience as a late-in-life college attendee. I volunteered in a free clinic that cared for the underserved community that I was part of and saw how impactful that was. I watched laws change before my eyes, that enabled immigrants to gain access to healthcare. I spoke on their behalf, shared my story, and advocated for change. 

From start to finish, it was an incredible experience. I finished my program, graduated with honors, and had my name on the President’s List, accomplishments I never thought I could say that I would achieve. I took the big scary test, passed with flying colors, and stepped into my new career as a Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) from the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) as well as a Certified Phlebotomy Technician (CPT) from the National Healthcareer Association (NHA), and began working for a local OB/GYN clinic caring for the women in my community. 

I’m insanely proud to say that I did this. The only problem with it is, I went to college for two years and didn’t get a degree. I did gain a career, though, a pretty badass one if I do say so, and eventually, I want to talk about this more in-depth with the hopes of inspiring others that although we are fed the dream of getting an expensive degree, it’s not necessary to achieve great things. I am proof of that now, and although it’s on my bucket list to get a degree, it may not be something I ever achieve, simply because it’s not necessary anymore, and there is a lot to be said about why that is the case. 

I want to move on though, because that wasn’t the only huge thing to happen in my life this year. 

This summer of 2024, my family drove to the Oregon coast from Utah to celebrate with me and my new little family as we tied the knot and officially became a unit. We had a few close friends, and my husband’s family as well, and to put it simply, it was perfect. 

Nothing about being with this man, or blending our family, has been difficult. It’s all been easy, and it has shown me that not everything has to be a battle. Our children are best friends, and our new little family unit is everything I’ve ever wanted in a family. We share four beautiful children, in a cozy forested home we picked out together, and planned a gorgeous event that came together effortlessly. I had a few people comment, while I was both getting through school and planning a wedding, on how hard that must be. It never felt hard though, and I replied every time with “it doesn’t feel like I have to do anything” because it didn’t. Everything we picked out was local to our venue in Astoria Oregon, and every business owner knew all the others, and all we had to do was pick colors, flavors, and spaces. We agreed on everything, and all of our family was able to attend, and again, it was as if all the pieces were just falling into place. It was meant to be, for as much as you believe in such a thing. 

To know how easy life can be with another person is mind-blowing because I spent so many years of my life fighting for something that was never going to make sense. It’s one of those things where I wish I had known that life could be this easy and beautiful, because I definitely would have stopped trying so hard, and spent my energy on the happiness I have now. There is something to be said for timing though. The stars aligned for us to find one another, and if even one thing hadn’t happened the way it had, would we have ever found each other? 

The relationship I have now with my new husband is a literal dream come true. He is the most attentive father I have ever met, the most supportive partner, and now husband, and he is always happy and eager to go on adventures with me. I don’t know if I would have been able to achieve my career goals without him, and he makes life feel easy and stable. He has created a safe environment for me and my children, and to say I feel lucky is an understatement. I wish everyone could find this type of happiness in a relationship. The world would be a much better place.

I think for the sake of this blog, and my readers, I’ll let this post be its own beautiful little entry on all that I am grateful for in 2024. I have been so lucky to have an abundance of support while I got through college, stepped into my career, and planned a wedding with my new husband and both sides of our families. 

2025 will be no less amazing as my oldest child turns 18, graduates from high school, and embarks on their journey into adulthood. It’s hard to imagine we’ve made it this far, but I’m so excited for them and everything they're planning! And I’m so glad that I now have the emotional energy to share that excitement and happiness. 

I also have exciting things that I have time to work on now that I’m not in school anymore. Finding that work/life balance has been tricky, but I’m settling into my groove, and planning big things for the future of this website and book business, and I’m very excited to share all of that with you. 

Thank you for being part of my journey!

I hope you also have a thing or two to be proud of or grateful for from 2024, and if not, then cheers to 2025! There are better days to come, and if you stick with me, we can find our way towards them together.