2021.

This year,

I started Sweet Osmanthus Studio this year with my sister.
I started a new job after 8 months of job searching.
We celebrated our first wedding anniversary, and 5 years of being together.
We celebrated so, so many weddings (a total of 14, incl. those we worked flowers at).
I turned 26, and finally felt a sense of confidence in who I was.
We went on our first family trips with the in-laws on both sides.
I took the GRE, again, and then again.
And then our dad passed, 16 days after the doctor first found the tumor. 

For a year with so many highs, the loss is an overwhelming cloud that envelops the year. An otherwise unfortunate bookend to what could have been a good, or a great, or a thriving year. But there is no comparison to the amount of sadness felt when you lose a loved one, no words that truly grasp what the world describes as 'grief'. As we come to the holidays, may we all find some joy amidst the pain we carry, and hope in the birth of Christ Jesus. And may we be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.