Two thousand and nine.

Kendra: I agree. And you're hilarious. So I'm blogging, on account of both of those facts.

I don't know about you guys, but I was remembering New Year's Eve 1999 (when everybody's parents prepared for some unforeseen Y2K disaster in which spare AA batteries and canned goods would somehow save us) and how it was both very similar and very different from New Year's Eve 2008.

It's similar in that it was a very boring evening spent right here in Glendora, and I saw some of the very same neighbors and family friends, and Kevin was even technically around (we were both at church, but probably had never even spoken at that point). I remembering thinking that someday I would be older and able to have FUN on New Year's Eve and do WHATEVER I WANTED. Well, it turns out that I'm not much more exciting on New Year's than I was at age 12. I realized the only thing people do for the new year is have big parties, and I don't like big parties. I've come to terms with gin rummy and Chinese food.

It's different in that my family is scattered tonight - two in hella NorCal, one at a high school party, one in New Mexico with my grandma, and me bumming around G-town. It's also different in that, well, I'm different. Duh. For one thing, if you had told me at age 12 that I'd be engaged at age 21 . . . well, I might have believed you, but only because I was young and naive. I definitely wouldn't have believed it later on. I especially wouldn't have believed that I'd be engaged to that tall Collier kid from youth group.

The moral of the story, I guess, if there even is one, is that life doesn't turn out the way you'd expect. But I'm glad that we're there for each other during the process, even when we graduate or move away or get engaged or whatever else. Hey, it's the new year. I'm allowed to be a little sentimental.