It feels as if we were just talking about what we were grateful for in the month of August, doesn’t it? At the same time, so much has happened in my life in the span of the last thirty days that it feels as if months and months ought to have passed rather than a mere four short weeks. WHAT. A. MONTH. September of 2016 will undoubtedly go down as one of the most eventful and life changing months of my life.
I rang in the month of September in my favorite city in the world, Paris. My husband and I had the most beautiful time there together and made so many incredible memories that I know will last a lifetime. It turned into such an adventure, one I am profoundly grateful we were able to go on together.
The second we landed back at LAX I went into full prep mode for a big work event that happened just a few days later. Without going into too much detail, it was the culmination of decades of collaborative work between the founder of the organization I work for and incredible artists from all around the world. I was brought into the project at the very end and am beyond honored to have helped with it because it really brought our founder’s lifelong vision and interests full circle. It was an amazing tribute to his career, his passions, and his life. The event was incredibly moving, the turnout was above and beyond what anyone expected and it was a beautiful, beautiful night to witness.
The following week brought with it incredible developments in my career that were completely unexpected. Again, I can’t go into too much detail, but in the span of a few days my life, my husband’s life, and our future completely changed. As my best friend said in an e-mail to me, “It’s funny (not funny ‘haha’ but funny ‘oh man that’s weird’) to read back over your last e-mail because so much of what’s in it has been handled by the amazing developments at work.” It is a bit funny because in just 48 hours an immense amount of stress was lifted from our lives and some incredible new opportunities came our way. Gratitude is too small of a word to encompass the sheer happiness, relief, and thankfulness we are feeling.
On that note, just weeks after returning from Europe we decided to book an unplanned trip back during the upcoming holiday season. One of the perks of my job is that we have a bonus week off each year between Christmas and New Years. It’s a REALLY big perk. We traveled to Europe following Christmas last year and, after getting back from Paris and immediately missing being overseas, decided to do the same this year.
We were given an incredibly generous gift of airline miles (THANK YOU, MOM & DAD!!!) and jumped on booking our flights. We ultimately decided on leaving LA on Christmas, flying into Venice and spending a few leisurely days there, then going on to London for New Year’s festivities. We are so ridiculously excited and grateful to be going to Europe for the third time this year and for the opportunity to spend another year ringing in the New Year away from home. (We are also more than a little bit excited to not have to worry about fireworks being thrown at us repeatedly on New Year’s Eve. If you’re confused about what I’m talking about, you can read up on our eventful New Year’s Eve 2015 spent in Amsterdam.)
All of that said, I’m left feeling completely and utterly exhausted and overwhelmed by gratitude and joy after this eventful month and am fully planning on sleeping my way through the upcoming weekend. I’m looking forward to getting some much-needed rest so I’m able to fully reflect on the month and appreciate all of the amazing things it brought my way.
How were all of your Septembers? Do you have any exciting news to share? I know a good number of you moved in the last month, started school or have gone through other big life changes. What did you find to be grateful for in the last 30 days?