Since I’ll be in the airport tomorrow and unable to write up a poignant farewell to 2008, I figured I’d do a quick little something a day early.

There were so many things to be grateful for this year. As always, my friends scattered all over the country were the highlights – from being asked to be a groomsman in a wedding to watching from afar as my bestest had her second daughter, not to mention the amazing care packages and postcards sent to me in Denmark, my tribe rallied around me this year in a spectacular way.

This year, I also learned to love my country. Watching Obama win from afar gave me the distance I needed to see myself belonging to the chorus of supporters. For the first time I really felt American, and felt proud of all the baggage that comes along with that. Coming home last week further solidified this feeling. For the first time in months I found myself surrounded by a bunch of Americans in the Copenhagen airport, feeling annoyed because we are so loud and so animated and so boisterous. Once this initial culture shock wore off, it felt familiar and comfortable and I was able to engage with the friendly faces and smiles that warmed my cold Scandinavian heart.

Somewhat related, I found home this year. Being away from Seattle made me miss it in a terrible way – I longed for the rain and the coffee shops and the majestic mountains and the grocery stores (there is something terrifying about not being able to read labels and seeing nothing but sad, bruised produce). I would read the Slog and peruse the show listings and feel so homesick I could smell the dirty Capitol Hill streets awash in constant downpour. I also missed that more abstract feeling of belonging and understanding, and I would pine for the days of not feeling like an outsider and being able to give someone directions and to walk around without feeling dazed by the totally unfamiliar language around me.

Most importantly, I missed the one person who makes it all come together. Of course I’d be introduced to him through a friend, and of course he was in my backyard the entire time I lived in Sonoma Country, but this was the year that we’d finally meet: in an whirlwind birthday weekend I found my center, my rock, and my partner. Left in the aftermath of the rapid-fire conversation and intense chemistry, I knew something giant had happened. Fast-forward five months later to this new year marked by meeting his family and hauling his stuff up here so that we can begin anew in our home.

So, in short, 2008? Epic. EPIC.