Day 9: Tuesday, June 17, 2014: 

How do you measure a year? I think the play Rent captures it perfectly: Measure in love.

It’s the day before my 32^nd birthday. Turning 32 is not a particularly exciting nor monumental year by any means. But in driving back from Crossfit today I got to thinking, “Who says that 31 to 32 couldn’t have been significant?”

With that, I have decided to reflect upon MY 562,600 minutes starting with June 18, 2013. From darkness to light, thick and thin, the terrible jobs and also the great ones. Here we go as I give you my honest look back so that we can look to the future with an open heart and make space for more love.

June 18, 2013

My 31st birthday

32. My ex-boyfriend [Jarrett] (whom was my “fiancé”) stayed up all night and into the early morning and made me a homemade frittata for breakfast.

31. Jarrett relapsed again into the iron grip of heroin addiction. He robbed me. Stole my bankcard, drained my account, and left us with nothing. We have no money and no food. I had all the education in the world and yet I couldn’t feed myself. At his group therapy sessions at the rehab center I am given the address to go to the women’s shelter to get food. My life has officially hit an all time low.

30. I stop speaking to my mother and communication with my father and sister is strained. They just don’t get my relationship with Jarrett and I love him, so until they see things from my perspective, I refuse to break the silence.

29. My last paycheck from LAUSD arrives on August 5, 2013. I am no longer an English Teacher (and I lose my healthcare shortly thereafter).

28. I get hired at Nordstrom’s in the active wear department but in the same week get hired at a private school called Fusion Academy as a yoga instructor—I quit Nordstrom’s after my training.

27. My old blog (Los Angeles Yoga Beat) turns up something unusual: A comment from a young woman opening an indoor cycling studio. She interviewed and hired me as her Lead Instructor and General Manager. I was given a salary and I would eventually get healthcare and paid vacation. I will make it in the fitness industry! My dreams are coming true!

26. Late August—early September 2013: I kick Jarrett out for the last time in our tumultuous on-again-off-again 3-year relationship.

25. Shortly thereafter, I put in my 30-days notice at my apartment in Hollywood that I lived in for 2 years which was in the same complex as my BFF Rachel.

My first round of purple

24. I dye my hair purple.

23. I move to The Valley into my friend Kimberly’s apartment. Prior to the actual move itself, Kimberly tells me she acted rashly and that I cannot live with her.

22. I find my own place in Studio City, sign the lease, and will move in November 1, 2013.

21. In October, I ran the Spartan Race Beast in Sacramento with a partially torn ACL (which by November would be completely torn, sigh). I am braced and limping, but in the end I finish and earn my Trifecta Medal.

Trifecta Tattoo!

20. Honoring my growth and hard work to complete my Trifecta, on October 31, 2013 I get a tattoo on my left ribcage: The Spartan Race Trifecta logo (sorry Mommy and Abba!). It was by far the most excruciating of my tattoos and longest at 4 hours BUT it was so powerful and represented me finally seizing control of my life.

19. I move into MY own apartment in Studio City. For the first time in YEARS this place feels like a home, smells like a home, and brings me peace. I am home.

18. Sunday, November 17, 2013 I met Gregory Cohen for breakfast at Local in Silverlake with another friend/instructor I hired at my cycling studio. My boss wanted me to take out some of my instructors to facilitate team building and community. This is the day that I like to refer as marking the beginning of my life. Once Greg walked into my life, the darkness dissipated and light poured into my life so brightly I needed sunglasses to admire it.

The first day Greg and I met

17. Monday, November 18, 2013 Greg and I go on our first non-date or half date as we like to call it. I showed up at his house in sweats and a hoody wearing Uggs. I was seeing someone else that I kinda dug and I was upfront about that information so this meeting was not a date. It was food and hey, a girl’s gotta eat, right?

16. My cell rings in the evening on Tuesday, November 19, 2013. It’s Greg, “Get dressed—NOT in yoga clothes. We are going to game night with my friends.” This is half-date #2.

To be continued my friends…tomorrow on my birthday…