Looking Back on 2025
2025 was quite a rollercoaster of a year. We had our ups: Robb and I traveled to Iceland for one of his hockey tournaments, and we had our downs: We lost our beloved cat, Melba. But we were next to each other, through it all.
I personally feel like I spent most of the year adrift. I finally found a career that I love, working as a set costumer in film. And this year, those projects dried up. Not just here in New Mexico but across the country. This year was the longest I had gone without working on a project in almost 4 years. Life just didn’t feel the same without getting to do that kind of work. I spent a lot of time reflecting on the projects I had worked on and reminding myself that almost no one was working right now, not just me. But I am grateful for the reflection, as I didn’t like the version of myself I became during my last few projects. Maybe that version of myself might have been a small part of why I wasn’t first in line for the few new projects….but in reality, it was more that I am still new and don’t yet have the strongest resume. It was a year of shedding a version of myself I didn’t want to be anymore, and shedding connections that simply don’t have my best interests in mind.
It was one of those years that felt like we would get through one thing only to be hit with another. Robb found himself stepping down from his management position for his mental health, and in the long run, it worked. Managers get extremely taken advantage of. We lost our precious cat, Melba, to cancer, who was honestly so much more of a family member than just a pet. Robb lost his Grandmother, which was a hard hit for his whole family. She was a very welcoming and loving woman, and she is very missed. We watched as the world around us got darker and darker for so many groups of people who are so vulnerable.
But it was also a year of Adventure, of romance, of trying new things. At the end of 2024, we got our dog Pheobe, who has been the best addition to our family. She’s a year and a half now, and we spent most of 2025 getting to show her new and exciting things. She went camping for the first time. She got to go swimming and on road trips. She got to make new friends and learn new tricks. We bought a new car! And even though we didn’t make the same kind of income we had made in previous years, we had saved enough to buy a fairly nice LandRover. Robb looks good in it. We went on several more hot air balloon rides, and helped my uncle by crewing for his balloon throughout the year. Robb did several hockey tournaments and even won a championship! His first! The big highlight of the year was Iceland. It was beautiful. Exciting. We saw waterfalls and Gysurs, and ancient landscapes. We went on a folktale tour and learned about ghosts, elves, and trolls. We watched the ocean and visited the natural lagoons. We experienced the nightlife and went an entire week without seeing the sun actually set. Robb made new friends and played in one of the most exciting beer league hockey tournoment hes had the pleasure of playing in to date.
Robb and I might feel like we survived this year by the skin of our teeth but there is no question: There is no one I’d rather spend a rollercoaster year with than him.
