31

I keep a list of important things that happen in my life, categorized by year, so that when I get old and start forgetting the order of events (or questioning whether they actually happened) I can consult it.

Tomorrow I turn 32, and I'm already forgetting stuff. So you see, this list comes in handy.

The list is entitled These Things Happened the Year I Was... and it only goes back to my 22nd year, because I've forgotten everything that happened before then. Apparently I didn't get started early enough.

It's been a difficult year, but it's also been wonderful, and in large part, the difficulties paved the way for the wonderful stuff. So many of my blessings this year came on the heels of what first appeared to be bad news. So I'm grateful for all of it, and I want to take a moment tonight to reflect on all that's happened in this 31st year of my life.

I've come up with a list of 31 things.

These Things Happened the Year I Was 31:

1. I worked the phone banks for No on Proposition 8
2. I biked through Slovenia and Northeastern Italy
3. I spent a week in Venice with my mom
4. I got laid off from my job
5. I recorded a BevMo holiday commercial (singing the "BevMo-lujah Chorus" behind dancing, animated corkscrews)
6. I witnessed the inauguration of President Barack Obama from Berkeley's Sproul Plaza, with 10,000 other hopeful Americans
7. I ran my first gig, putting together a small choir for a private service
8. I ran my first half-marathon
9. I started belly dancing
10. I received a piece of hate mail (sent to me mistakenly and intended for somebody else)
11. I became a songwriter (inspired, in part, by the aforementioned hate mail...which, come to think of it, may have been intended for me after all, cosmically-speaking)
12. I launched my website
13. I became a hula hoop teacher
14. I ran my first marathon
15. I ate more cupcakes than was probably good for me
16. I had multiple studio sessions, recording background vocals for several local musicians
17. I reconnected with many long-lost friends
18. I sang in front of The Shirelles at Glide
19. I was backstage with Michelle Obama at the National Conference for Volunteering and Service
20. I sang at my cousin's wedding
21. I spoon-fed my grandmother in the Emergency Room
22. I celebrated 8 years with Monte
23. I initiated an impromptu online fundraiser to help my friend Siobhan raise more than $2,000 for her nonprofit, OneMama
24. I started learning guitar
25. I got my first astrological reading
26. I became online friends with my childhood hero, LeVar Burton
27. I recorded a CD with the Glide Ensemble
28. I knitted 4 baby blankets
29. I counted 35 pregnant friends
30. I ate my first turkey sandwich in almost 4 years, then decided to remain a vegetarian (I also ate a bowl of meaty chili, but that was an $8 mistake)
31. I saw my first opera, sitting on the field at AT&T park

It's been a good year.

I wonder what 32 has in store for me?