Possibly around the time I was writing about nostalgia, the Wife and I were talking about the favorite years in our lives.
I picked 1969, the year I turned 16, and my parents let me have a huge party. I had a girlfriend, I got elected president of the student government, which made me an irritant to the new principal, and I was figuring out who I was politically, especially compared to the transitional 1968. Music was great that year, too.
Then there was 1978, the year I worked at the Schenectady Arts Council, got a girlfriend, and finally stopped my nomadic existence.
1984 was the year after Mitch Cohn was fired from FantaCo and Raoul Vezina died. This made Tom Skulan more dependent on me to deal with the day-to-day stuff, while he worked on publications and the “big picture” stuff. Yes, affairs of the heart played here too.
Carol and I both picked 1998, the year before we got married, for different reasons. Her reasons are her own (she can start her own blog – unlikely). For me, it was going to Detroit (visit friend, Motown museum, Ford museums, Tigers game), Cleveland (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), Washington, DC (visit friend, take JEOPARDY! test), and Boston (appear on JEOPARDY!) Interesting that neither of us picked 1999, the year we actually GOT married because that first year in that half a house she owned was tricky; buying OUR house in 2000 was definitely a vast improvement.
And we both picked 2003, which was the year Lydia was finally conceived. Carol and I went to Poland Spring, Maine after that. Note that we DIDN’T pick 2004, the year Lydia was born; that took some getting used to.
So what are some of your favorite years, and why?
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My Favorite Year with Peter O’Toole – Final scenes
Mine would be 1994: My first big birthday party when I tuned 7
2005: I completed school, turned 18, got driving license, and another huge birthday bash, captained the soccer team.
2009 and 2010: My most active blog year, college got over, I made many new friends.
1972 -1974 were a good couple of years. leaving school and going to college – again I was elected social secretary of the student union. The laughs we had!
1986 – This is the year I graduated from high school, and my whole life was before me, full of promise and potential.
1989 – My first trip across country with my good friend John.
1990 – My second trip across country with my good friends John and Chris.
1992 – My first year as a transfer student at an odd and fantastic, or perhaps oddly fantastic liberal arts college run by Mennonites. This was the beginning of an eye opening and formative two year journey as I finished my undergrad degree.
1996 – The year I married mi amor de mi vida, aka Paula. This is also the year we moved to the Chicagoland area for grad school at Wheaton college. What a fantastic odyssey!
1998, 2000, 2002, 2007 – The years that my fours kids were born: Ethan, Elena, Joel, and Camilla respectively.
I could go on, but this is enough for a comment section in a blog.
It’s good to think about these things. Thanks for being a catalyst to reflect on good times.