What comes after 23...?

*disclaimer: This post will be of a more personal nature...a reflection of sorts on the last year of my life. Since tommorrow is my birthday, I figure I should be able to write what I want. Regular posts will resume next week :)
I decided a long time ago that 23 would be the perfect age for me. I'm not really sure why I felt this way, but 23 just seemed to fit. As I'm going to be turning 24 tomorrow, I've been thinking about how my "perfect year" has gone and wondering...what comes after 23?
My twenty-third year started off great, and I was sure that was a sign of a great year ahead. I spent the afternoon/evening with one of my best friends. We hung out with a handful of our friends, watched TV, played games, had dinner, and just had a great time getting to relax and hang out. It was everything I could have wanted (especially since I really wasn't planning on doing anything in the first place). Things seemed to be going really well. I had a great group of friends, I was getting ready to start a new job, I was talking to this guy that I was really starting to like, I was starting to volunteer more at the church, and life was good. Things seemed to be going really well for a while.
Not too long after my birthday, things started to go downhill. My dad was having back problems again, and we learned that he was going to have to have another surgery (making this the third time he's had to go in for this), and it was going to be more invasive than the last two because in addition to everything else they needed to do, they were going to be replacing the hardware that was already put in his back from the previous two. My dad ended up needing to leave his current job and stay at home to recover. I love my dad quite a bit, and seeing him in the state he was in, and watching what he was going through absolutely tortured me. As a little girl, we always invision our dad as a superhero of sorts, indestructable and can do anything and everything. Even as we grow up and realize our dads are human, we still have that almost supernatural view of them, so it hurt to see this indestructable man broken. A good friend of mine was coming into town, and I was really looking forward to spending time with him (beacuse it had been about three years since I'd seen him last), and it ended up not working out. I also realized around this same time that this guy that I thought I might really like, didn't really like me as much as he made me think he did.
It seemed like 23 just wasn't going to be the year I thought it was going to be. I was heart-broken in more than a few ways, some of my closest friends were beginning to move back to their own colleges for school, nothing seemed to be going right, and I was feeling a little lost and hopeless. I continued to volunteer at the church, I went to work at my new job, and I continued to spend time with my friends who were still in town. I had started hanging out with and talking to a good friend of mine, and I realized how great of a friend he really was. He was a genuine good guy, and accepted me as his friend no questions asked, and he liked me for who I was. The more I spent with him, the more I began to start liking myself again, and I started working harder to be able to be on my own, take care of myself again, and continue to strive to be the person I needed to be. By the end of August or so, I finally felt like I was coming into my own again, and I was happy to be me and to be on my own.
Towards the end of September, my phone started acting up and I had to get a new one. I wasn't all too happy about it, but it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened at the time. When I got my new phone, I popped my SIM card in, and went through the motions of trying to figure out the ins and outs of the phone and learning what transferred over to this phone and what got left behind. As I was browsing through my address book updating numbers, I came across a name I hadn't seen on my phone in a while. Somehow, in the changing of phones over the last year and a half or so, I had lost Daniel's number. He was one of my best friends in high school, and after graduation we kept up with each other on a regular basis. I was so excited to see his name in my phone again, and I texted him hoping that his number hadn't changed. He ended up calling me right away (he goes through more phones than anyone else I know, so he hadn't had my number for a long time either), and we made plans to get together and catch up next time I was able to drive home for a weekend.
I honestly cannot express the amount of excitement I had when I finally made it home for a weekend. I was coming home at the end of October for my little sister's birthday, so we decided that's when we would get together. When I saw his truck pull up in front of my grandma's house, it was all I could do to not run out the front door and hug him. It was like nothing had ever changed or happened. We ended up spending a lot of time together that weekend, and when it was time for me to head back to Corpus Christi for school, I realized how much I didn't want to go back. We made plans to get together next time I could make it home, and we talked on the phone and texted quite a bit in between visits.
I didn't realize the change right away...but my close friends did. There was no way to cover up how much happier I seemed to be. As soon as I was done with the semester, I packed up and drove home. We spent the biggest majority of my break together, and by Christmas-time we decided that we were dating. I'm not the type to get into relationships easily. I spend a lot of time testing the waters, and making sure that that's what I want and what I'm ready for. This time, things just seemed right, and I didn't want to spend any more time wondering. Right off the bat, Daniel ended up getting hurt. Even though we had known each other for the last ten years, trying to be his girlfriend was a very new thing to me, so having to take care of him was an adventure and a learning experience.
The spring semester was definitely a busy one. I came home and spent time with Daniel when I could. My grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, Valentine's day was a major bust (Daniel doesn't ever want to talk about it, but he did an outstanding job of making up for it), we celebrated Daniel's birthday at the rodeo with his sister and brother-in-law, and we've gone to various events and spent quite a bit of time with both of our families. We even made a trip up to New Mexico to visit his grandma, spent a week recently in Kerrville at a family church camp, and we've added a baby bunny into the mix. There were some less that wonderful moments, too. There were some not so great times spent with and around my family, every now and then we have to battle my own insecurities, and we've been dealing with some of Daniel's own imperfections that he's wanting to change and work through. He's a very patient man, at least with me, and we've worked through the more difficult situations together.
So, how would I go about summing up this past year? It was definitely not without its fair share of difficulties...but overall, it couldn't have been any better. My family, friends, and those I care about are safe, happy, and doing well. I love the way things are going in my life, even though things aren't always so great, and I love that I have someone to share that with. I have an amazing and very supportive family...and since I've started dating Daniel, his family has accepted and welcomed me with open arms, and they are very supportive of me as well.
One of the best things that could have happened to me though, was Daniel. I know I talk about him quite a bit, and I brag on him all the time, but I couldn't have known to ask for anything better in my life. Daniel saved me when I didn't realize I needed to be saved. I had been so over-stressed and worn out on everything, and he's taken that away from me. He won't let me stay too upset for long, and he does more than I could have ever asked of anyone when it comes to my happiness. I never cease to be overwhelmed daily by how much he loves me, and how much he's willing to do and go through because of that. We have our fair share of not so perfect times every now and then, but he's patient and works through things with me, and allows me to be my crazy self for a little while every now and then. I feel like I'm a better person, and I'm a much better Christian than I think I have ever been. I have a renewed faith not only in God, but in myself as well. I'm back to being myself again, and I'm very happy with who that person is (it's not just me, my family and friends have noticed, too).
So...I guess 23 was about as perfect as it could have been, quite honestly. I have my faith, my friends, my family, and a wonderful man...and with that, I'm ready to welcome in year 24...determined to make 24 the new 23.
Until next time,
Abby <3