Here you are: reading yet another “Dear 2016” styled blog post! Go you!

The other day I had someone ask me to describe the year 2016 in one single word. If you know me you know that describing ANYTHING in one word is nearly impossible.

Resilient

That is my one word: resilient.

For those of you who follow my blog you’d know that I wrote a “Dear 2015” letter at the end of the year last year. In that letter I wrote a short plea to 2016 asking for something better than what I had in 2015,( 2015 was an all around rough year for me).

The reason I chose the world resilient is because that is exactly what 2016 taught me how to be. This year was a huge year of growth for me and I am so very thankful. I grew mentally and emotionally in places I didn’t think I had anymore room to grow. But, then June 17th, 2016 happened. That was the day I almost lost my big brother due to a stroke he had suffered. I sat at his bedside for about a week pleading not for a better year like I had previously, but for my brother to stay on this earth with me. It was intense, friends.

Day by day my brother proved doctors and science wrong. Day by day my brother recreated the definition of resilient, and helped me find out that I, too, was resilient. The people who surrounded us with love and support were our spring boards, but we had to make the decision to jump and get back up and get back up we did. My brother is still making progress day by day while my little sister and I walk side by side with him. 

Now as we bounce back together, we smile together, we laugh together, we eat together, we walk together, we watch TV together outside of the hospital, we talk about life together, we go shopping together, we do everything we were convinced we would never do again thanks to resilience. 

Peace out, 2016.

I loved and hated you all at the same time.