It's hard to think of 2007 just by itself, because really somewhere in the middle the end of two completely strange years of my life ended. So first I think I need to put a little context in that larger time period.
April 2005 was of course the time when Stephanie decided it was time to do her own thing and try it on. There's no secret about how that ultimately ended, but what a journey I had in the mean time. I had to learn how to like myself, and really understand what I wanted and needed from others. There were a couple of people who were instrumental in helping me get there. That journey really began to wrap up in the spring.
Backing up to the beginning of the year, it was a rough start with Catherine and I breaking up. I'm glad we're friends today, and I think we both understand what didn't work about us. That landed me in the dating world again, and that was a world that I got tired of pretty quickly.
I went out with close to 20 different women from the start of the year to early April, and for all but two or three it was a one-time thing. I was getting fairly jaded by the end of that time because of the inability of people to communicate like adults. The few that I went out with more than once frankly weren't at all right for me, and I found myself settling for no particular reason. The worst one was this crazy woman I went on two dates with, the second of which ended as a "second night" stand. She wanted nothing to do with me after that, apparently because I was still friends with my former wife. Like I said, dating didn't work well for me, in part because it's not easy meeting people as a divorced 30-something.
On May 31, exhausted after the Maverick media day, I met Diana. After several dates, the barriers came down, the connection got stronger, and before you knew it, we were one of those eHarmony commercial couples that make you wanna yack.
But she really changed my life and restored my faith in the art of relationships. There are no games, guilt, score keeping or mismatched expectations. We communicate freely about everything, and don't take anything so seriously that it gets in the way.
Just days before the year ended, she moved in with me. The biggest adjustment for me has actually been to let go of some of the programming I have. For example, she gets into these cleaning sprints, and I feel like I should be doing the same thing. She explains that it's just her neat-freak tendencies and not out of some expectation that I'm a lazy slob (which I am).
This new relationship caused me to reflect a lot on previous relationships. I don't feel any ill will toward Stephanie, especially now that she has her own place, a good job, and gets to see mountains every day. I'm really happy for her. I'm also glad that I had the experience I had with her, however bumpy it might have been. She'll always be a part of my life, and I'm better off for it in the end. I feel that way about the other close relationships I've had as well.
Professionally, I feel like I found a happy place of sorts in my job, for most of the year. This was the first full calendar year that I had the same job the entire year since Penton in 2000. It's strange to think about. I stay because I work with people who challenge me and make me better at what I do. As long as that continues (which has a lot to do with managers keeping me on the right things), I can see being there for some time. I have had some brief periods where I didn't want to get out of bed and work for The Man, but fortunately those haven't been serious enough to cause me to do something nutty like quit.
I got a bit into photography again, though not to the extent I'd still like to. A lot of it had to do with documenting stuff that me and Diana did. I've got quite the collection of photos this year.
Volleyball came back into my life briefly, and I'm not going to rehash here what I previously wrote about. It just turned out that everything that I stand for as a coach in terms of values and methodology was not compatible with what the new club did. Given the intense time commitment and my own expectations, I just couldn't stick with it.
A part of me wonders what it'd be like to run a serious volleyball "academy" at some point. I've done the math and know what it would cost, but the risk is pretty high unless I have some serious coin to throw around. It's something I'm sure I'll think about going forward.
I sort of got back into amusement parks again this year. I got to see two new parks this year by way of visiting Kara in the Twin Cities. I went to Cedar Point a ton this year because Diana really got into it, especially Halloweekends. I really made the most of my Universal pass too, and Orlando has become something of a fun distraction for me every couple of months. I was very happy to have events at Hershey and Holiday World.
Losing Luna, or rather making the choice to lose her, really was hard for me. As miserable as she made me at times (and I'm still reminded every day of it since I haven't replaced the carpet she destroyed), she was a real light for me. Fortunately, Diana moving in means I became an instant daddy to not one or two, but three cats. The youngest one, Oliver, is very Luna like. Hopefully he'll be the kind of cat that never grows up.
I didn't do the stuff with video and/or film that I would have liked to, but I don't really hold that against myself. We were going to do some awesome TV stuff for the Maverick media event prior to its cancellation (with a TV friend from college), but that didn't pan out. I did do a nice B-roll package that we put on PointBuzz.
It seems almost silly to bring it up, but I'm surprised at just how at ease I'm able to stay in part because of the hot tub. It seemed like such a stupid single guy thing to buy, but I use it so much, and enjoy it constantly. And only two of the nine months was I single, so it turns out it works for attached guys too. Best use of a tax return ever.
Overall, this year was pretty amazing, largely because I met someone who gets me, accepts me and allows me to continue to be who and what I want. That works out because I was ready for it, and in some ways I'm glad I didn't meet her sooner because I don't think it would've turned out the same way.
I suspect 2008 will kick ass.