Wait really?

For those of you who just awakened from a coma and happened to come across this blog randomly before doing anything else, today is New Year's Eve. Or in other words, today is the last day of 2013. Its been quite a year. It seems just yesterday we were at the beginning of 2013, and yet so many things have happened.When this year started, the Pope had a different name, the world's most interesting baby hadn't been born, (I never really got what the big deal was)  Obama had just beat Romney in the elections, the country was still reeling from the tragedy in Sandy Hook, the Boston Marathon bombing hadn't taken place, and Oscar Pristorious was still a hero. And these are just a few of the events that defined 2013.

And the craziness and change wasn't just at the global level. When I look at where I was as a person at the beginning of this year, and compare it to who I am now, I see how different everything is. At this time a year ago, I was a newly turned 16 and I knew I was so mature. I could handle anything and everything, or so I thought. I had just been asked to be part of a newly-formed triathlon team, yet I had no idea where it was going to take me. As January turned to February, I was living and training me head off. As it turned out, I had taken both my life and my training to an extreme that I later found out wasn't good for me. In both cases I had taken things too far too fast. God and my mom told me that I had to change something in my life, and tendonitis made me change something in my training. I did make a change in what was, at the time, the biggest part of my life. It was a hard change to make: it felt like I was tearing my existence in half. But I knew it the right thing to do and that it had to be made. It was painful at first,  I literally cried after I made it. But because it was the right thing to do, things got better. And I realized how immature and especially naïve I really was/am; how I have so much work to do; how unstable I am; how much more I have to accomplish, before I can truly say that I am a Christian man.

2013, although it hasn't all been smooth sailing, it has been, on the whole, one of excitement and growth. I have, even though I haven't been blessed with good health, been gifted experiences at the age of 16 that many never experience in a lifetime. I got to travel halfway around the world, I to represent my country, and I got to train at the Olympic Training Center. I began this year as a swimmer, I begin this next one as a swim coach. I have traveled with my family and friends to some the most beautiful places on earth. God has blessed me in so many ways, I cant even begin to list them all.

So, though this year hasn't been all buttercups and daisies, it has been an extraordinary one and I think I am closer to my creator than I was at its beginning, and that's all that matters/I could ask for.

Here's to 2014! May it bring us all closer to fulfilling our purpose in life. May we each take the opportunities that are presented before us to grow in love for each other. And may we be grateful to God, not only for each year that he gives us, but each day as well, and may it bring the U.S. a ton of medals

Wishing you a happy and blessed new year!....be sure to drink a lot of champagne...or Martinelli's

-Thomas, who really really likes potato chips..esp. bbq flavored ones. *smacks lips*