What the heck even was 2025? A bit of a train wreck, actually.
Last year brought many upheavals, including a major career change and the loss of our Dexter, the King of Side-eye, our beloved gentleman overlord of 14 years.
Though the grief for this loss is still fresh enough to bring me to tears looking through photos to post, we have made space in our hearts and home for two more cats to love. Introducing Yvie and Minho, sibling rescues from the San Marcos Daily Record:
Peculiar in their quirks and foibles, we are already deeply in love.
A few highlights from 2025 include traveling to New Zealand in the Spring, where we visited Hobbiton, saw The Southern Cross, and hiked into Mordor, a.k.a. the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a 20km all-terrain trek through two active volcanos. It was AMAZING.
Jason and I also took an epic Road Trip through New England and Canada with his family for his Mom’s 80th birthday. We got to see the fall foliage in all its glory, eat escargot in Quebec City, and visit Stephen King’s house in Maine. We also visited Prince Edward Island, where Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote Anne of Green Gables.
My brother and I traveled together for the first time since our childhood. We went to Brazil for the desitination wedding of a high school friend. My part of the journey was a whirlwind three-day adventure in Sao Paulo. Funny that I waited all my life to go south of the Equator and then went twice in one year.
Our trip to Brazil is one I will treasure for the rest of our lives.
For our birthdays in July, Park and I saw the legendary Kim Seokjin in Dallas for his RunSeokjin_Ep Tour. Of all the concerts I’ve seen—and there have been a lot—his was the best. Full of soft humor and vibrant energy, we sang, we laughed, we had VIP! It was an excellent way to celebrate our birthdays with an artist we’ve watched grow since our time in Seoul.
There he is, looking right at us during the rehearsal of Spring Day.
These are the positive highlights of 2025. I’m not getting into the disappointment and heartache related to my job at the Record prior to my leaving. I’ll simply say that I was there for 30 years, and I didn’t want to leave, but the situation had become unhealthy. It was time for something more.
Luckily I found a job at the University, surrounded by kind-hearted people who support one another.
I’m also not delving into the deeply disturbing political situation of the United States right now. That is far too large and too frightening a beast to look at. It’s four days into 2026, and the president has overstepped his authority in a dangerous way, and I know in my heart there will be heavy consequences for the people in this country.
For now, I’m going to focus on things I can control: Celebrating our beautiful chaotic little life and making some goals going forward.
Much love and many blessings. I’ll write my goals for 2026 in the next post.