2012 in Retrospect: The Good, The Bad & The Beautiful

Every year around December 31st when the weather gets colder and the year is coming to an end, I tend to spend some of my time inside reflecting on what I learned during the year, things I've accomplished, and things I want to spend more time improving upon in the coming year.  I'm so pleased to say that 2012 is shaping up to be an incredible year for me.  There is no doubt that it has also been one of the most chaotic and dramatic years of my life to date, but overall the great things that have occurred highly outshone the bad.  I have so much to be thankful for that I wanted to write it all out and document the things that have contributed to my happiness.

Family - Last year was a very difficult year for my family because we had found out early on that my mother had been diagnosed with stage 4 appendix cancer.  As a result, 2010-2011 were two of the most frightening years of my life.  Once we found out, I basically pressed the pause button on my own life because nothing was more important to me than spending time with my mom.  It was heartbreaking that my mother, one of the nicest, most innocent people in the world, could be faced with something so painful.  My dad worked his butt off to get the best doctors and surgeons on my mom's case at Sloan-Kettering.  He accompanied her to every single doctor's appointment she had and we all did our best to maintain a positive outlook, even when we were being told otherwise.  My mom had to go through chemotherapy which would make her feel sick and everyday after work I would race home and my mom and I would drink ginger tea and watch Bones together.    She then had to undergo two major surgeries, which left me more stressed than I've ever been in my entire life.  Thanks to all of the doctors hard work and persistence, and my mother's unwavering positivity and strong will to overcome her diagnoses, I am pleased to report that she has now been cancer-free for one full year!  So this holiday we  celebrated her victory!  My family has always been extremely close knit and I love them more than anything.  My brother (who also happens to be a genius) is one of my best friends, and my dad has been my role model for my whole life.  He perfectly embodies every virtue that it takes to be a good person.  He's hardworking, has an unmatched level of patience, and he goes above and beyond all of his responsibilities, fulfilling every obligation with a smile on his face.  I can't even imagine where I would be without all three of them!  We also had a minor setback right after Thanksgiving when my father's company which he worked at for 33 years was purchased by another company and he was laid off.  We were most concerned about losing our health care benefits specifically for my mother's sake since she needs regular checkups but I'm not at all surprised to announce that my dad has found a new job which he is starting at the day after New Years.

Friends - There is no denying that 2012 was a pivotal year for me in the friend department.  As I stated in the family section of this blog post, after my mother was diagnosed I had hit the pause button on my life.  When 2012 rolled around, and my mother was newly declared as cancer free, I was able to press resume.  In my time at home I  had made some new friends online through twitter and tumblr and such and I had a great time meeting and becoming close with many of them in real life.  But I refer to the year as pivotal because as things go, I suppose I have always been a tad naive when it comes to dealing with people.  It's hard for me to envision or believe anyone to be capable of such terrible things perhaps because I (luckily) could never put myself into whatever mindset is required to commit some of the acts I've witnessed this year.  For a long time I have always considered myself to be a problem solver and when I see that someone is in need of a friend or advice I do whatever I can to be there for them.  This year I learned that some people are simply beyond help and no matter how I may feel, it is not fair to myself to shoulder the responsibility of trying to make them happy.  Maybe that's slightly depressing, but maybe it's also just reality.  But overall and despite everything, I am so honored and happy to say that I have met some of my closest friends this year.  That is why as cheesy as it may sound, I am still a firm believer in the theory that everything happens for a reason.  When times get tough you find out who your true friends are and I cannot even describe the insanity I may have faced if it weren't for Melissa (@mechamelissa), Giovanni (@MarioPrime), and Cassie (@yrchmonger).  Others have been there for me as well, but the three of them have really gone above and beyond and I love them to pieces!  I also met my co-super villain, the lovely Jen (@jennifermaire) who means the world (that we're planning on conquering) to me!  As someone that's always had a close knit group of girl friends, I'm also really pleased to say that immediately fit in with Betty (@futurebatlady), Sarah (@TinyBats3), and Lauren (@LaurenMoran).  They're such a warm, welcoming and fun people and I'm really looking forward to seeing lots more of them in 2013.  Especially since we realized that we are the Birds of Prey and this community needs us!  And of course there's Taylor (@tmoney118), Tom (@tomlafferty), and Juan (@thatjuanreyes), who have provided endless hours of entertainment with their clever puns and good hearted conversations.  Oh! And I could never forget to mention one of my fondest first encounters this year.  I had planned on meeting my friend Rachael (@bookoisseur) and former co-blogger/new friend Kim (@KimberlyAnnR) who I hadn't previously met in person for happy hour.  Upon arrival, Kim told me that I reminded her of one of my favorite fictional fairies, Tinkerbell!! I realize this paragraph is getting to be quite lengthy, so I promise I won't go on much longer.  But I also have to mention Alan (@SizzlerKistler), who is a warm hearted and knowledgable close friend, Chris (@CapSteveRogers), who is an unbelievably talented fellow with a great sense of humor, Marlene (@ilikecomicstoo), a genuine and kind comic lover who attended an awesome zombie Quidditch match with me, Dan Slott (@DanSlott), a cheerful and awesome friend who shares my love of Doctor Who and pens one of my favorite comics, and my longtime best friend and twin (@KristinLFowler) who you shall hear more about in the next section!

Work - Kristin and I created On Wednesdays We Wear Pink in August of 2011 and we've been the perfect pair of co-writers ever since.  We have complimentary strengths and in all of our time together we haven't yet had a disagreement.  I am so thankful to have been blessed with such a fantastic partner. We started our site as a blog where we would each take turns writing a post every other day.  Since then, we've redesigned, upgraded, and evolved into a site that we're both incredibly proud of.  Our baby has blossomed!  In working on our site, we've been able to attend a ton of conventions, movie screenings, press exhibits, and even speak weekly on her husband (@Tuddle)'s hilarious radio show.  It also opened doors for us to other opportunities, some of which we can't discuss just yet :o)  This year, I have been lucky enough to attend Toy Fair, where I helped Gary (@Gary_O) film a segment for G4, which is crazy to think about since neither of us had known it would be their final year, Book Expo America, Star Wars Celebration where I modeled for Her Universe, DragonCon, Baltimore Comic Con, New York Comic Con, and Spooky Empire.  And as I also briefly mentioned in the previous paragraph, Jen and I began filming a weekly comic book club called the Super Villains Comic Book Club (@SuperVillainCBC), in which we drink wine and discuss a trade or two each Thursday night.  We had Kyle Higgins (@KyleDHiggins) as a guest on one of our shows, and we have a lot more  surprise guests planned to appear in 2013!  We're both so excited to be doing this as it's a project that we're both deeply passionate about.  Another amazing opportunity I had was to fill in for Jill (@TheNerdyBird), and cohost the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast with Alan where we talked about Marvel NOW, Superman and Doctor Who.  I feel like I'm forgetting so many other things, but I promise to keep better track for next year.  It's especially much easier now that I've launched SuperSpaceChick.com.

I'm going to break up this post and publish my resolutions on New Years Day, so I'll end here.  I hope everyone has a very happy and healthy new year and I wish you all the very best!  Thank you so much for reading my site, following my other work and for your support, comments, and stimulating conversations on twitter/tumblr and of course in real life<3