Before I left for my backpacking trip, Jen (my college roommate) sent me an e-mail. Sadly, it was an e-mail lost in my Inbox as I prepared for my journey in early August and I never found the time to respond. From the comfort of her new Lower East Side apartment, Jen wrote about our friendship over the past six years and her excitement for my upcoming adventure. She reminded me that she would be in New York when I returned, both physically and emotionally for all that I had experienced on my adventure. And she promised to have an adventure of her own. 

I stumbled across the email this afternoon while sifting through a number of lonely emails from the past. I reread her words with a smile on my face and only then did I notice the quote at the bottom of the page. I had passed over them in August but the words held particular significance as I read them again today:

Perhaps Jen knew how true those words would turn out to be, how accurately they would encapsulate the past six months of my life. These were the words I followed subconsciously through the wilderness of Turkey, on the beaches of Santorini and along the roads of Connecticut. Now, with New Year’s Eve less than a week away, every young adult in New York is planning his or her final evening of 2014. Resolutions will be made and forgotten. Sequins will appear in abundance and the champagne will flow. While I still cannot believe this year is coming to a close, I’ll be celebrating with Jen in a small Hoboken apartment, toasting to a year I can only describe as uniquely unforgettable. 

I hope you, dear reader, savor your last days of the current year before jumping headfirst into January. Perhaps 2014 wasn’t your best 365 days and if that is true, it will be over very soon. But for the rest of you, enjoy the final days with mindfulness and love for the people in your life who carried you through another year. I know I will.