This Gregorian year was full of changes, travel, friends, family, and many good things. I’ve been avoiding most of the “end of the year” lists that take over our media at this time of the year, but of course I couldn’t help it…so I’m doing a kind of “year in review”. It is by no means comprehensive, as it would be ridiculous to get into too much detail
January & February were mostly cold and mostly uneventful. I celebrated New Year’s Eve Persian style. I was working a part-time retail job, looking for work. I went sledding for the first time in years.
In March I celebrated Naw Ruz (the Baha’i New Year), traveled to New York City to stay with my cousin and attend an amazing wedding. Fell in love with NYC all over again.
April got more exciting, since I was asked to work at the Baha’i House of Worship as the assistant to the choir director, in order to organize the choir festival (with over 2,000 attendees). I volunteered at the Baha’i National Convention, which is when the national governing body of the Baha’is in the United States is elected. I’ve always loved attending Convention.
I spent a lot of time in May with my family, and of course most of my time was spent coordinating the choir festival. I was also sleeping on my friends’ couch, two lovely ladies who saved me from a horrendous commute from my parents’ house.
June was the celebration of a childhood friend’s wedding in Chicago and the start of a new job. I moved down the street from the Baha’i House of Worship to the Baha’i National Center to my current job, and found an apartment near my office.
Then there was was the 3rd of July BNC staff picnic on the shores of Lake Michigan, going to the beach, and the start of something wonderful. The middle of summer is always blissful for me!
I mostly remember August in a blur of travel, packing and unpacking. I went to Nashville, LA, and Seattle for work trips and then to Greenlake Baha’i Conference in Wisconsin. I started off the month with another wedding, and missed a different wedding while I was out of town (count that, we’re up to 4 weddings!). I also moved to my second apartment for the year.
I celebrated my birthday with a week-long spree in September, starting with a surprise trip to the Chicago Botanical Gardens, then to the Friends of the Persian Culture Conference with many friends and family, and finally with a party at a friend’s house that included delicious food and fire-spinning.
We went apple-picking in October, went to a college friend’s wedding, I dressed as Mary Poppins for Halloween, and attended an amazing seminar on Baha’i administration in Chicago.
I moved to my third apartment in November, got the sickest I’ve been in a long time, and had a lovely Thanksgiving.
December was cold. I started trying to figure out where I am going to live. A trip to Pittsburgh over Christmas break started the holiday season (it was really nice to get out of town!), and a wonderful New Year’s Party finished off the year. It has been 3 years since I left to serve in Haifa in December 2006. I can’t believe it has been that long.
It was a good year. I’m grateful and lucky to be surrounded by such beautiful family, friends, and coworkers. I am looking forward to 2010…who knows what is next!
I took ten photos with my camera on my tripod from a hillside overlooking the city of Pittsburgh. With the help of Photoshop, the photos were stitched together. (view large)
