Another trip around the sun. Just like everyone else’s, this past year has been a rough one. I learned to simply appreciate life. I’m grateful for my friends and family, for a career I always dreamt about, and honestly just for being alive. This past year: I got my first plaque, went back home and saw family I haven’t seen in 10+ years, I met my lady’s family in the province she grew up in, I lost my idols, I bought my father his dream watch, and both my mother and my grandmother saw me on The Filipino Channel on TV.