Not Just Another Year
It's been a long time since I posted on here--not for lack of interesting things in my life, but I suppose for a lack of inspiration to write about them. Several people have been urging me to write, and I sometimes find it hard to explain how the trifecta of creativity for me--subject matter, inspiration, and articulation--have to come together in order for me to really feel called to write. There's a part of this journey that took me from Blacksburg to Floyd that feels intensely personal--not in a private way, but simply an ineffable and seemingly inexpressible way.
All those concerns and personal quirks and preferences aside, it's been an amazing year. It started off in a propitious enough manner--a lovely lady with whom I shared a mutual attraction finally found the opportunity to get together, and when we did, it blossomed quickly into a beautiful romance.
As if to show that good fortune follows on the heels of good fortune, I landed a job with a local winery which happens to be among the largest producers of wine in the state (said winery, for reasons both personal and professional, shall remain unnamed, but you can probably guess which one it is if you think about it hard enough). I'd been away from the aspects of the wine industry--the social aspects, the scientific aspects, the aesthetic aspects--for so long that I'd almost forgotten why I began loving it in the first place.
Finally, because good things come in threes, I brought the year to a close (or near enough) in November by getting engaged to said lovely lady mentioned above. I had originally been planning on waiting a little bit longer than eleven months, but there's really no way to find out your intended's ring size without tipping your hand a bit (even if you use a cat's paw), and she is nothing if not preternaturally perceptive. However, I decided that she probably thought that I was going to wait a little while before popping the question, and therefore if I acted quickly, I might be able to surprise her. The week after she cottoned on, I suggested that we take a trip to Williamsburg so I could show her the W & M campus. This led, naturally, to a trip to the Crim Dell bridge, which of course provided the perfect backdrop for the proposal. Naturally (and thankfully) she said yes, and we celebrated by going over to Millington Hall and sneaking into the greenhouse at the top of the building, which I did quite a bit as a freshman. It was a lovely celebration of new beginnings and old, fond, memories.
I said almost two years ago that I believed that my happiness would coalesce around my move to Floyd. It's reassuring and gratifying to find that I was correct in this belief. Here's to many more years' worth of happy events, good fortune, and new adventures.
It's been a long time since I posted on here--not for lack of interesting things in my life, but I suppose for a lack of inspiration to write about them. Several people have been urging me to write, and I sometimes find it hard to explain how the trifecta of creativity for me--subject matter, inspiration, and articulation--have to come together in order for me to really feel called to write. There's a part of this journey that took me from Blacksburg to Floyd that feels intensely personal--not in a private way, but simply an ineffable and seemingly inexpressible way.
All those concerns and personal quirks and preferences aside, it's been an amazing year. It started off in a propitious enough manner--a lovely lady with whom I shared a mutual attraction finally found the opportunity to get together, and when we did, it blossomed quickly into a beautiful romance.
As if to show that good fortune follows on the heels of good fortune, I landed a job with a local winery which happens to be among the largest producers of wine in the state (said winery, for reasons both personal and professional, shall remain unnamed, but you can probably guess which one it is if you think about it hard enough). I'd been away from the aspects of the wine industry--the social aspects, the scientific aspects, the aesthetic aspects--for so long that I'd almost forgotten why I began loving it in the first place.
Finally, because good things come in threes, I brought the year to a close (or near enough) in November by getting engaged to said lovely lady mentioned above. I had originally been planning on waiting a little bit longer than eleven months, but there's really no way to find out your intended's ring size without tipping your hand a bit (even if you use a cat's paw), and she is nothing if not preternaturally perceptive. However, I decided that she probably thought that I was going to wait a little while before popping the question, and therefore if I acted quickly, I might be able to surprise her. The week after she cottoned on, I suggested that we take a trip to Williamsburg so I could show her the W & M campus. This led, naturally, to a trip to the Crim Dell bridge, which of course provided the perfect backdrop for the proposal. Naturally (and thankfully) she said yes, and we celebrated by going over to Millington Hall and sneaking into the greenhouse at the top of the building, which I did quite a bit as a freshman. It was a lovely celebration of new beginnings and old, fond, memories.
I said almost two years ago that I believed that my happiness would coalesce around my move to Floyd. It's reassuring and gratifying to find that I was correct in this belief. Here's to many more years' worth of happy events, good fortune, and new adventures.
