It’s no secret that 90% of this year has been completely awful and wretched for me. There were, however, a few wonderful moments that really sustained me and kept me moving forward. In today’s post, I’d like to celebrate the best of those happy moments. In the order that they happened:

1. Meeting Ceri: Early in the year, I got to meet one of my oldest blogging friends!

2. Superhero: In March, I traveled to San Antonio to visit friends and family. The entire trip was wonderful, but my favorite part was walking the Run 4 Hope 5K with friends, and running “like superheroes” toward the finish line.

3. Travel: Over spring break, my family visited Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. My friend Stephanie came up to visit (twice) and we also went to New Hampshire. Then in May, my family went to Niagara and I got to walk across the border into Canada. Yes!

4. CAMELS!: While on spring break, I got to ride a camel. Enough said.

5. Love wins: I got the news of the Supreme Court decision on the day we left Massachusetts. It was a really, really good day.

6. Home: This involves a whole host of things. A four-day road-trip down to Texas that didn’t cause me severe anxiety (unlike the trip up in 2014). Falling in love with a house that we’d bought on faith, having never seen it in person. Just being home in general, around everyone and everywhere I loved and knew well.

7. Gavroche: The newest addition to our family came to us only a few days after we arrived. He may be a devil cat, but I love him to bits. This is our little guy at seven months old (late November).

8. Housewarming: Shortly after I arrived back in Texas, I held a small housewarming party with a few good friends. It was sooooo good to see everyone again, and I need to have another gathering like this soon!

9. Tarot: The Raven’s Prophecy Tarot Deck has pretty much revolutionized the way I view tarot, and I’m completely in love.

10. Book Blogger Bash: Was there any doubt that meeting Andi, Amanda, and Trish would end up on this list? Hell no! I had more fun in that three-day vacation than I’d had for months!

11. Christmas: Well, there’s not much more I need to say here that I didn’t already say in my Christmas post, right? I’m home.

Honestly? Writing this post has really made me happy, because I realized that even though most of the year has been so negative, I’ve had some really wonderful moments, too. That sounds silly, given the introduction above, but I mean it. There’s a difference between knowing something logically, and really understanding it, seeing it all laid out as you type. Then there are all the other happy moments that have no pictures, no posts, no specific recordings. There’s a therapist’s kindness, and a sudden brightening of the future, and the cutest dog in the world, and a mother’s pride, and life-changing books, and discovering a new sense of fashion, and so much more. These are the things I want to see when I look back at 2015, rather than the depression, anxiety, worry, and pain that were ever-present.

And also: here’s to more great happy moments in 2016!