A recounting of 2017

Twenty- Seventeen was a crazy year. There were so many hard, crazy and confusing events last year that have left me looking back and trying to make sense of everything. It almost seems as if the whole year had been a blur, I am sure I am not the only one that thinks that. 2017 was a rollercoaster. When the year started I was in Arizona having the time of my life. I was having so much fun adventuring and experiencing new places and cultures. While I was away having the time of my life though, on the scale of how life usually goes, some people close to me had passed away. One of the most caring, kind and uplifting friends I have had in my life was killed in a freak accident at work. I had seen him just a few months prior and I will never forget the meaning and truth behind our last conversation. I probably would have said a lot more had I known it would be our last. But, that's how it goes I think. I think there's a saying that when things get difficult, they come in threes? Well, around the same time my grandfather, who had been sick for a long time also passed away. My birth mother was in the hospital at the same time, and I felt hopeless because I was so far away and couldn't be there to do anything. The place I loved had seemed to become my prison. I felt guilty for getting out of our little town and living my best life somewhere else so far away. School ended and I left my newly found home to go back to my internship at Black Oak Casino Resort. Little did I know where my life would lead me at the end of the summer. I felt lucky to come home and see my friends. I felt sad at the same time though, because I came home early in order to make the memorial for my late friend, and at the same time it was under those circumstances I saw so many other friends I had been missing. It didn't seem right. Seeing all my friends in the instant I was saying goodbye to such a treasured one. I think leaving Arizona was one of the most challenging moves I had to make, but I think was even worse was deciding not to go back. After a summer of working and having fun I was daydreaming of the day I would get off work and drive back to the desert paradise I had grown to fall in love with. I was approached with the possibility of a new and great opportunity. I was faced with a decision, do I stay and take advantage of this opportunity, or do I go back to the desert and fulfill my need for adventure? My decision had to be quick, and the pressure was on. I decided I am young and these kinds of opportunities don't come around that often. I convinced myself I would be stupid if I didn't study hard and interview for the Risk Specialist position at Black Oak Casino Resort. A 22 year old doesn't get a job like that I thought, so why not at least go for it and if I didn't get it, I could go back to Arizona. Well, I ended up getting the job. It's challenging and difficult, but also at the same time intriguing. I have grown even more into my role as a team member at the Casino. I threw myself into the project of making my fellow team members happy. I wrote a proposal for a holiday party that actually got approved the next day. Everyone told me not to push it and were afraid, but I didn't let that scare me or slow me down. I became a factory of ideas to help boost morale. Some of those ideas are in effect. I am so proud of my accomplishments in roughly 2 months. I passed my evaluations with flying colors. By the end of 2017 I had a new career and also a new place to live. On Christmas day I packed up and moved into an apartment in downtown Sonora with a coworker. For the first time ever, I had become totally self reliable. Now that it is January, I can't stop dreaming of where I will go from here. In the next coming months I am going to be buying a new car. It's almost like within a couple months I have managed to turn my whole life around. I have made myself a home in this small town I used to hate. I have become successful at a young age for a company I truly believe in. I can't wait to see where 2018 takes me. Even beyond that I can't wait to see where the next 10 years takes me. I began 2017 with a heavy heart and troubles. I am beginning 2018 with a new outlook and new responsibilities. I am happy, genuinely, maybe even for the first time in a long time. I am going no where but up my friends! Here's to more success and hopefully some adventures in 2018.