I had some pretty big changes this year, and as I am a person that generally doesn’t handle change very well, I think I had a really good, and successful year.

For starters, I graduated from high school. I never doubted that I wouldn’t, but knowing that in the coming fall I wouldn’t be going to the same place I had been going for the past twelve years of my life was pretty staggering. Also knowing that I wouldn’t see a fourth of the people that had surrounded me for the past twelve years of my life – both a comforting and a scary thought. I was moving out of this little bubble called high school and moving into the Real World.

I got my first job, my first real job. I’ve had hodge-podge jobs with babysitting or raking the leaves or helping my mom clean houses (she cleans as a part time job), but I got my first real, I-now-have-to-pay-taxes job. Which was pretty scary, too, at first. And while I knew people were jerks, I got to experience first-hand the vast stupidity of humanity working at a hotel, checking in douche-bag businessmen. Ahem. But even when I was being yelled at for not having a smoking room available, I was able to put a smile on my face and suck it up, knowing that this was not my life, and that the person standing in front of me was simply a spoiled brat who obviously never worked with people before.

I got my wisdom teeth pulled, which was pretty big for Miss Wuss. It’s something that I worried about, a lot, and it turned out to not be even that bad. I don’t remember a thing about the surgery, got a bit sick afterwards, and passed the next week in varying states of consciousness with yogurt and smoothies.

I started my first semester as college, and thus, my independence. When I was back at home, every problem that I ever encountered, there were always my parents and my friends and other authority figures that I could just shove the problem off to and have them handle it, or tell me exactly what to do. But I didn’t have that anymore. When I got a bill in my e-mail saying I owed my school $4,000, I had to walk over to the financial aid office and deal with it myself. (Consequently, I probably lost about $1,000 because of it, but we’re working on my aggressive tactics.) When I was enrolled in a class that I already had credit for, I had to deal with it. When UMKC had no records of any of my transcripts, I had to figure it out. And now, I feel a lot better about myself, knowing that I can handle most of the things that life throws my way. I’ve grown up a lot this year.

I moved four hours away from home, which is probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I love my family, and I love my friends, and I love the place that I love, and the familiarity of it all. I moved to Kansas City, to a dorm room, with a person that I have never met before in my life. Which at first, was absolutely awful. I was so terribly lonely that I wanted to call it quits and just go home; but after numerous phone calls home, and pushing myself out of my comfort zone millions of times, I made friends. And I’m starting to actually like Kansas City. (And I love my roommate.)

And another really big thing for me: I now like Mac ‘n Cheese. In fact, as I’m typing this, I’m eating a bowl full. I used to not like it when I was little, for whatever reason, so I haven’t tried it in probably a good ten or twelve years. While I was at college this semester, some of my friends had a “dorm cooking show,” where they cooked for us a variety of things that we could make ourselves in the dorm, and then we ate it all. It was really fun, and everything was delicious, including this spin on mac ‘n cheese that they had! I tried it mainly out of courtesy, not thinking I would like it… now I am addicted. I can’t believe I’ve missed out on the cheesy goodness that this is all of my life! So the past couple of weeks I’ve been home, I have been taking full of advantage of being able to cook for myself. I think I’ve had this about four times just this week, haha. This is huge! My meals are now open to so much more variety with noodles and cheese!

So 2012 has been a really big year for me with lots of change and overall growth as an individual, and I’m really excited to see what 2013 will bring. My mom’s birthday is on the first, so we always have friends and some family over not only for New Year’s but for her birthday as well. I am so looking forward to more junk food and spending some more time with friends and family. Happy New Year’s Eve everyone!