A look back on 2011: "The year that was just so-so."

Upon waking this morning I was delighted to discover I'd somehow ended up in the year 2012.  2011 is now nothing but a shadow of the past and we can all feel free and confident to walk into a brighter future.  Well, these are the things that were swimming around in my head, until I read the news headlines this morning:

World rings in 2012 and bids adieu to a tough year

So what, even the media agrees that 2011 was kind of a downer?  They go on to list all kinds of reasons: hurricanes, earthquakes (this one's Japan, of course), tornadoes, and could forget the terrible on-going unemployment of many millions of Americans during this eternal economic downturn?

I would be interested to know if anyone out there had a spectacular year, as all the people I've chatted with over the last couple days agree: 2011 was nothing special.  It had some ups, some good times, but mostly downs, mostly tough times.

It's not just on a global scale, though.  For me, 2011 will be remembered as the year of loss.  Well, the year of losses - that's definitely a plural.  The losses began just shortly after New Year's last year, spiraling out of control, throwing peoples' lives in unexpected and often unwelcome directions.  During 2011, I moved from Austin, Texas, to Norristown, Pennsylvania, to Choshi, Japan, all in the span of a few months.  And while it was refreshing to have familial support and see old faces, the emotional toll of such a life-changing event has to have a serious toll on mental health.  But somehow, here I am, writing to you IN THE FUTURE, having survived the various waves made in the last 12 months. Some of that loss, one might consider "good" loss: perhaps the loss of a long-overdue dissertation that is now finally complete, or the loss of those few extra pounds you put on during your college years, or whatever it may be.

It's been rough for my family this year, not because of unemployment, but rather, for our own personal struggles. Another year gone by full of working long hours, making minimum wage (or less), watching loved ones struggle with getting their futures on track.  A lot of people moved in 2011; a lot of people got sick or ill in 2011; many people lost loved ones in 2011. If there was some way to describe 2011 as an analogy, one might call it "just like an ice cream cone, but instead of chocolate-vanilla swirl, it's rusty spoon flavored."

Now, don't get me wrong, 2011 of course had a few highlights: the late nights with the family, playing board games or Xbox, fruit-picking in orchards and eating blueberries til I burst, watching baseball on a big screen, chatting away in the local dive bars and getting to see old friends before they moved away from Norristown, and other small-town quirkiness.  The year wasn't a total bust: again, you get to eat the ice cream, but the flavor isn't quite right.

Overall, it was a year of ups and downs: emotional downs, followed by (for me) four solid months of familial love and support (and late nights with friends!), followed by a life-changing move to Japan, followed by some emotional downs within the family, countered by the sheer beauty and scope of the Tokyo night scene.  It all seems very yin-yang, doesn't it?  Good/bad, sad/happy, close/far... but in the end 2011 seemed to prove the saying that all good things come to an end.

Thankfully, with 2012 fully underway, we may happily note that all bad things will find their ends as well.