Favorite Memories This Year

2024 was a wonderful year. Here are some of my favorite memories of the year.

Seeing Wicked LIVE and seeing the movie

The parents of the students that my mom teaches are wonderfully generous people. For Christmas last year, they got my mom two tickets to see Wicked when it was in Detroit. I was lucky enough to go with her, and to our surprise we were in the THIRD. ROW. This was my third time seeing Wicked live, but never had I ever been that close. It was so cool and I came to appreciate many small details that I had missed before.

As for the movie, that is something I have been looking forward to for about a decade, when they starting talking about a movie being made. Over the years I have been waiting for an official announcement and a cast list. I remember seeing the first official trailer during the Super Bowl. I screamed, and picked up Zack and swung him around. Admittedly, I was a little nervous that they were going to change up things for the movie or add in original songs. But I was so pleasantly surprised, and quite frankly, blown away by the movie. I saw it with my pal Danielle, who was as excited about the movie as I was.

Wicked has been part of my life since 2004, when I first heard the music. I'm grateful I've gotten to see it on stage AND in theatres, and can't wait for part 2 in theatres next year!

Family trip to Wisconsin

Zack, Tom and I continued on our journey of trying to visit all 50 states and in 2024, we visited Wisconsin. We stayed in Milwaukee and spent a week exploring, playing at the park near our Airbnb, and I got to take my runs alongside Lake Michigan. Its always an adventure taking a trip with Zack, but he did great, was patient with all our exploring and we had a wonderful time. We truly don't get a ton of time as a family, so I cherished this time we did have together.

Weekend trip to Port Austin

Zack and I also had the chance to take a weekend trip to Port Austin with my mom, my sister and her family, and my brother and sister in law. We've taken a few "up north" trips as a family, and we always have a good time. On this trip, we went to the beach, ate a lot of ice cream, and Zack walked away with epic skinned knees from a fall during hopscotch. We also played Hide and Go Seek in our Airbnb, which brought on a lot of giggles.

Live Theatre Shows!

I just realized that in addition to Wicked, I also saw Frozen, Rent, Beauty and The Beast, AND Les Miserables live this year. Those are all my very favorite shows! Honestly, I'm just so glad I live in a world where live theatre exists. I am such a fan of musicals, and there is something truly magical that happens with live theatre. I am glad I took time out of my busy schedule and my "mom life" to see these shows. May it continue with 2025!

Swiftie Sermons

This summer, my Pastor invited me to join him for three sundays to do "Swifite sermons". We would play a Taylor Swift song and then I would talk about what the song meant and he would weave it into a sermon. Not only did I get to talk about one of my favorite topics (Taylor Swift), BUT this also gave me a chance to practice public speaking, share a bit of my own personal story, and connect on a deeper level with people at church. I even got two cards in the mail from folks thanking me for it.

Lobby Day

I already wrote a whole blog post on this, but attending our National Leadership Summit and Lobby Day in Washington, DC was truly one of the most memorable experiences of my lifetime. I was so very nervous to attend, and then I ended up having the absolute BEST time. I laughed, danced, cried and walked away feeling so empowered and confident in my work.

Team meeting in October

In October, my entire department across our region (17 states) came together for time of reflection and strategizing. It was one of the best team meetings I can remember having, we had great discussion and so, so many laughs. And if you can't laugh with your coworkers, then what is even the point??

Era's Tour

I mean, duh. Sam bought front row tickets for Toronto the day they were released, which was over a year before our concert. So we had 12 ish months to look forward to attending the show. With every month that passed by in 2024, I kept thinking "we are one step closer to the Era's Tour". And then it finally came. That weekend was so much fun. We laughed and made so many tik tok's, and listened to a LOT of Taylor. The actual concert still doesn't quite feel real to me, almost like it was a dream. But obviously being front row at the largest tour to ever exist is an experience I will never forget and never take for granted. I've written many times about the impact Taylor Swift has had on my life, so I won't get into all that here. I will only say that I wish everyone knew what it felt like to love an artist or a band for a solid 18 years. It's a feeling I can't describe, to have a musical artist be that much a part of every phase of your adult life.

I'm sure there are a few things that I am forgetting, but those are the memories that stand out when I think about 2024. Thank you to all the people who made these events what they were. Can't wait to see what 2025 brings.