2023 was a year that went by faster than I anticipated. I hardly had time to catch my breath much less keep up my writing, something I greatly lament. I hope that I can give you all a satisfactory summary of the year. I moved from Georgia to Maryland late in 2022, so late in fact that I did not properly settle into my new life here until around February of 2023. Before January was over I was engaged to my long-time partner and beginning to plan a wedding. I worked at the warehouse for a used bookstore, Wonder Book and Video. I loved this job but it left me incredibly tired and physically worn out by the time I got home each day. By early fall my fiance and I decided to elope for numerous reasons. This didn’t happen exactly. We were blessed to have incredible friends who helped us plan and hold a wedding in under a month. Our friend, dressed as India Jones, took on the role of officiant. It was beautiful and very much a celebration of our love. It was out of the box and I have never been happier than the moment I said I do in front of a roaring bonfire holding the hands of the man I love. The week of the wedding, as if I wasn’t running crazy enough, was the same week I interviewed for a new job at Towson University. I did my interview over Zoom in my parents’ hotel room while Dad was finalizing alterations on my wedding dress. It was an eventful week to be certain, and despite my fears regarding the success of the interview, less than a month later, I received a call offering me the position. I had to say goodbye to a fair bit that month. I took my husband’s name, saying goodbye to the identity of Courtney as merely the daughter of Charles and Phoebe. Make no mistake that is still a facet of who I am but now I am more my husband’s wife. I said goodbye to the job that helped me come to Maryland and begin building my life away from everything I had ever known. The coworkers I had at Wonder Book truly were some of the most incredible human beings I have ever had the fortune to meet. Leaving them saddened me but I could not pass up such a life-changing opportunity.
In 2023 I stepped into the unknown. I left my father and mother, setting out on my adventure. I built a home with the man I now call my husband. I changed careers and began to walk a new path. As I wander down the lanes of 2024 I am thankful for all of the lessons of 2023. Every time I stumbled I found within myself a new strength to get back up and move forward. There were moments of great joy and also moments of great sorrow. This new year will bring its own moments of joy and sorrow and it is my goal to endeavor to take the time this year to remember to be grateful for each, bitter or sweet.
To my dear readers may you find peace and hope in what passed during 2023. I hope that as 2024 unfolds we all find that the events of 2023 merely paved the way for greater things to come to us this year.