leigh ann

There’s a trend going around the internet right now regarding posting yourself in 2016. I’ve never been good with video posting so let’s give it a wack here.

In terms of dates and memories, I’m a bit shit at it. 2016 occurred mid-college and those years are a mess in my head that I can’t fit together and sort out. I started keeping detailed photo memories around 2017 but before that is kind of a mess.

I will try and put together a bit of who I was by searching 2016 in my photos album and seeing what pops up.

In 2016 I had a cat – Buttered Popcorn (BP for short) – who I rescued from a friend at the time because when she came home from vacation she found his paws broken. We took him to the shelter to get fixed up and I took him home despite my sisters no pets policy. While his paws were broken he chilled with me in the basement with his shredded newspaper litterbox because I was too poor to afford real litter. My sister made him go outside the minute his leg was healed.

BP passed away right before a big hurricane – I wasn’t there. I just came home and he was dead.

My sister’s dog had a litter of puppies – all of whom I named and tried to find homes and take to the vet. A lot of whom died from worms she passed on to them.

I dated a guy who did art really well.

I wore a scary godmother inspired costume for halloween.

I dyed my hair fully blonde at home because that’s what you do in your twenties. I’ve been through several hair changes a year since leaving high school where it was against the school rules to have unnatural coloured hair. No dying your hair blonde doesn’t bend the rules it’s not “your” natural colour. This same year I also had short red hair, and short green hair.

And we can’t forget that Hurricane Matthew spun the block and brought havoc to The Bahamas just a year after Hurricane Joaquin and three years before Hurricane Dorian.

Taking this walk down memory lane and finding these photos really do just remind me that so much can happen in a year. You really just have to keep on living and experiencing. I probably don’t have the website space for videos but I came across me modeling for my aunt, a group vacation back to my home island, visits with my dad. A whole lot of school.

2016 me would be shocked to see 2026 me. I don’t think I ever could have imagined the way my life turned out. And I think I need to remember that when I feel life begin to overwhelm me. Back then I was still working service jobs not knowing that I’d begin my journey at an accounting firm the next year. I was dating a dude who’d move away and we’d be done by 2018.

I probably cried a lot this year and I cried a lot the years after. But I kept pushing. Things seemed impossible when I was waking up for a 6am physical education class but I’d get in my car and have my coffee in the parking lot.