bien(re)venue!!!

Where do I even begin?

So much has happened since July. We're nearing the end of 2010, one of the craziest years of my whole life. So much change, so many endings and beginnings and adventures and epiphanies. So much maturing and growing and evolving. So much optimism going into 2011.

This new place, if you can still call it new, has been treating me well, better perhaps than I deserve to be treated and certainly better than I've been treated.

I have a job as a waitress in one of the most highly respected, beautiful, and brilliant restaurants in the area. I work with some of the nicest, most genuine, funniest, and most professional people in the world, I swear. I've been working there for maybe three months and I already love them. I want them to be my friends and in my life in some capacity forever.

I love this town. There's always something you can find to do and usually someone with whom to do it, whether it be a drink, a coffee, or just hanging at someone's house. It's a small town, and I love that, recognizing people and also waving to strangers. There's something to be said about having a kinship with strangers. I was in a coffee shop earlier today, just writing and observing and I found myself just in love with everyone in there, though I didn't know a single soul. It's a cold day, windy and bitter, but everyone was smiling and warm and welcoming. People are generous with their happiness here. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. And, quite luckily, I think it's contagious.

Nate and I have been though a lot this year. The fatigue of our old home, the newness of this one, the move, the lack of jobs, the loss of jobs, the gaining of employment, making new friends, trying so hard to go out and meet people but yet stay connected to one another and in doing that, we've actually become even more connected, and have, I believe, renewed our love and respect for one another. Sometimes it takes this kind of shake-up and these sorts of novel adventures to 'test' our relationship and we've passed and grown closer because of it. It's been so long, us dating, and it's nice to try to get back to the beginning every now and then, just be together, and enjoy each other and not stick to the routine ALL the time (though it needs to be said that I do love my routines...)

For the first time in forever, I feel like I'm getting back something that was lost when we lived in South Carolina, something that was missing there and that's true friendship and socializing. It's different here, people are more open and honest. When they say they'll call, they actually do. When they say they want to do something, they come up with some sort of event. For the first time since Macon, I feel the possibilities of real friendships, and ones that will last for a very long time. I cherish these people that have come into my life. Though it's hard to live up to people like Caitlin or Stephenie or Sean and though I love them with so very much of my heart, there are people here who are reminiscent of them and the friendships I'm making are reminiscent of the most important ones I've had in my 26 years.

C'est avec un plein coeur que je dis a vous, mes amis: la vie est belle. And the future holds nothing but contentment.