It’s New Year’s Eve! Tomorrow will begin a new decade – the 2020s. Ten years ago, I was a high school senior, Herbert Hoover High class of 2010. This round graduation year makes big dates easy to mark, like this one. In the last ten years, I’ve grown from a naive, excited 18 year old to a slightly-less-naive but still generally excited-about-life 28 year old. So much has happened!
Professionally/academically – I started this decade off looking for a college. I came quite close to enrolling at Harvard, but at the last minute (honestly, I was probably too scared to go) decided to go to CalU all but sight unseen to join their small meteorology program. What a choice! On paper I look crazy, but it turned out to be the best choice I could have made for myself. I finished there and (again seemingly almost on accident) ended up at OU for graduate school. A whirlwind few years went by, I got my Ph.D. and took a postdoctoral position at the National Severe Storms lab. I’ll end 2019 in this role, but begin 2020 by starting my career in the federal service as a research meteorologist at this lab. I NEVER could have guessed this when I was backing out of my ambitions to go to the Ivy league. I never could see it, and I stressed all along this path, but it all worked out. Funny how that goes.
I have so many thoughts about this last decade: my experiences, my growth, the people who have come in and out of my life, the people who have stayed, the mistakes I’ve made, times people have wronged me, times I have wronged others. There’s so much to process, it is almost overwhelming. In this exercise, I’ve come to a few conclusions for myself:
- I have accomplished SO much in these 10 years. I am proud of myself for it, and grateful to all the people that helped and all the opportunities for growth (even the painful ones) along the way. I look forward to the next decade of challenge and growth.
- There are so many big, weighty problems in the world that it really isn’t worth dwelling on the comparatively small unresolved issues I’ve had with people in my life. In the new decade, I will try my absolute hardest to let those go and move forward without grudges.
- I am surrounded by so many amazing people, and I really should try harder to let them know that I care for them and appreciate them more often.
The other outcome of this exercise: I came across a ton of fun pictures from my life over the last 10 years. Ending 2019 and the 2010s on a fun note, I’m sharing some of them here. Happy new year and new decade to all!
2010 senior prom with my still-there bestie, Brittney! 
2010 high school graduation. 
Fall 2010, I got paired randomly with this roomie, Brittany. We roomed together for 4 years and are still close. 
In 2011, I boarded my first ever flight and visited Colorado. This picture is meh, but I remember exactly how awed I felt by the Rockies seeing them for the first time. 
Fall 2011, I joined a sorority, Alpha Sigma Tau. This was a bit of an unexpected move for me but turned out pretty good. I met some great people and learned a lot about myself through it. 
Through meteorology at CalU I made some lifelong pals and got the chance to travel the US! Here’s me, Lindsay, and Karly enjoying beignets at AMS2012 in NOLA. 
College pals, Karly and Manny. 
In 2012, I was awarded the NOAA Hollings scholarship. I met several friends through this program, including my still close friend Manda. Here we are before we knew anything about craft beer. If I remember right, we hated these. 
In 2013, I visited the NWC for the first time on CalU’s field methods course. Foreshadowing? 
Through AST, I made some really close friends, like Nicole and Lien. I was honored to get to see Lien’s US citizenship ceremony! 
There’s little proof because he pretended to avoid me all these years, but I am lucky enough to have met Josh in undergrad and have him still in my life in OK as one of my closest friends. Here’s proof from 2014. 
CalU graduation 2014 
My first proper LP supercell. Bonus – saw it with Karly! 
In fall 2014 I came to OU to start grad school. I was TERRIFIED! 
To cope with grad school I adopted the best, fattest bengal kitty. Burrito Purrito was my best friend through the growing pains of grad school. Miss this dude. 
In 2015 I got my first taste of field work on PECAN. Now I’m hooked. 
I met this guy when he was TAin my first grad class. I almost failed it. For whatever reason, I still like him, and we now have a pet family. 
I’ve made so many great friends in OK. With good friends, anywhere is home. 
In 2017 field work gave me the opportunity to travel abroad for the first time ever! I went to Portugal for a month. 
In 2018, I became an aunt to this little nugget! 
2018 – PhD! It’s been over a year, and sometimes I still am amazed I made it. 
I had the best PhD committee and advisers, and I am lucky enough to call them all friends still. 
Since I got the degree, I got to wear the floppy hat and get hooded by both my advisers, Petra and Evgeni. It’s a bit of a formal thing, but it was really a special moment for me. 
Those same AST friends have been hanging around all these years, and came out for my PhD commencement. 
In 2019 I got to see my long-time bestie, Brittney, get married! Friends for ~15 years! 
Since finishing the PhD, I’ve been at NSSL becoming a specialist in observations of the lowest part of the atmosphere for convection!