Goodbye, 2007...

Here we are. It's the last day of 2007. I think I'm sort of in denial about it, actually. It doesn't quite seem real yet. It passed all too quickly.

Last week, Michael and I had dinner with a friend that lives in Washington, D.C. He was up visiting his family for the holiday, so we managed to schedule some time in to visit with him as well. During our discussions over dinner, we realized that we had not seen each other since we had been in OBX together for vacation. In JUNE. It just didn't seem possible that it had been six months since we had seen him. Or even that our Outer Banks trip had been that long ago. As we're getting older, time is really flying by and at an alarming rate.

On our vacation, Michael and I were celebrating our new engagement. Our wedding date had yet to be set; vendors yet to be booked. Now, as we bid farewell to 2007, we are less than six months away from getting hitched. And I can only assume that these next six months will pass just as quickly (if not MORE quickly) than the last six. So our wedding day? Yeah, that'll be here before we know it. And as exciting and wonderful as that is (it also means our Hawaiian honeymoon will be here, too... woohoo!), it's also quite frightening.

All in all, 2007 was a great year for us. I was baptized, confirmed, and received my first communion in the Catholic church in April. This was in preparation for our marriage, which we knew would be coming up sooner or later... and sure enough, the engagement was not far behind.

I had successful LASIK eye surgery in October. My vision is better than ever, and I've recovered almost completely. My use of eye drops is at a minimum. At a post-op appointment about six weeks after the surgery, my vision was 20/15 and my doctor told me it was the best possible case scenario--really, the best results I could hope for. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared out of my mind at the potential risks. Even after the surgery, I was super excited, but in a way, was waiting for something unexpected to happen:

My cousin gave birth in July to her first child, a girl (Mia), who the whole family absolutely adores:

And Michael's sister, Melissa, gave us our baby nephew, Brendan. It was not without scaring the shit out of all of us... that is certainly one experience I can do without repeating in my life. But with that, we also have much to be thankful for. For one, the health of everyone we love. Melissa and Brendan came out of it unscathed, and we have counted our blessings that Melissa is OK, and subsequently have completely fallen in love with little Brendan.

My granddaddy (my dad's father), whom I share a birthday with, suffered a heart attack less than a week before Christmas. At the age of 78, he underwent double bypass surgery in which they also replaced one of his heart valves. At first, it seemed as if everything went really well, but things declined day by day, and by Christmas night, I had actually almost convinced myself that we might lose him. He had a raging infection and treatment wasn't working; his kidneys had shut down and they were talking about starting dialysis. But 24 hours later, by some kind of miracle, things were looking up tremendously. And two days ago, he was moved out of ICU. So things are good. And I'm thankful.

There are so many other things I could mention... I've been more than fortunate.

So here's hoping for continued blessings in 2008... which I'm affectionately nicknaming (insert big announcer voice here) "THE YEAR OF THE WEDDING"... life is sure to get crazy in these next several months.

Next year at this time, we'll be six months into a new marriage. That'll surely be nice, won't it? And I'll be looking back on 2008 as one of the best years of our lives.

Enjoy your New Year's Eves. Eat, drink, and be merry with all the ones you love.