It’s my favorite post of the year!

I know I say that every year, but it’s TRUE (I think I maybe say that every year too. LOL).  Typically when I do these, I sit down and put the whole thing together in one go.  This year – for whatever reason – I’ve broken it up over several days, which has allowed more time for self-reflection.  On the whole, I’d say 2021 was a pretty good year, though it was not without its struggles, to be sure.  Maybe the correct way to say that is, the year had its struggles, but we all came out on the other side okay.  Most of those struggles are in one way or another related to the on-going pandemic, which I think we all thought / hoped would be a memory by now.  Frankly I think some of that expectation is what drove some of my own anxieties throughout the year; or my languishing, as my good friend Steve put it.

2021 was the first time in a long time that Holly and I didn’t leave the country.  In fact, it occurred to me while I’ve been processing the year internally and out loud with my close friends, that I should go back and look when the last time that happened was (and yes, I fully understand this is a “first world problem”).  Since I first left the country in 2002, there have only been two years that I didn’t go somewhere abroad: 2004, because we were newly married, I was back in school, and we were subsequently broke; and 2021 (I managed to sneak in a trip to India in 2020 just before the world shutdown).  My initial, albeit very entitled, reaction to this was to think how crappy it was that I didn’t get to go anywhere.  The correct way to think about this though, really, is wow, I’ve been extremely fortunate!  In 20 years, there have only been 2 years where I didn’t get to go somewhere overseas (again, thanks for the perspective Steve). 

So with that improved attitude, Holly and I did get to explore around a good amount this year.  We visited some family in Mobile, and then went to the beach.  We had the opportunity to go to the beach with my family again this year, which is always so much fun.  Holly and I then got to go to Utah, which you’ll see a couple of pictures from that trip in this post (clearly it was a really good trip!). AND, I got to go to Arizona this year for work, and spent a little time playing around in the desert while I was there.  Life is, of course, made up of more than just trips, and I would say that we got to also spend some quality time with friends and family this year that was so sorely missed in 2020.  We have now spent a full year in our new house, and as such got to experience all four seasons here on our property.  Really, we have a lot to be thankful for, so yeah, on the whole 2021 was a good year.

From a photography perspective, I actually took more pictures in 2021 than I have any other year – ever!  I was actually shocked by that.  I was guessing it was a lower number than last year!  BUT, I got a new camera in 2021 (thanks Holly!) that does some new tricks, like infrared and better astrophotography.  So between those new tricks, and photographing the random animals around the house doing funny things, I ended up shooting quite a bit.  Interestingly, almost half of the 15k images I took this year were captured since September!  Perhaps that’s not too surprising as Holly and I were still in Utah in September, I went to Arizona in October, and then basically as soon as I got home the fall colors were popping here already and lasted for over a month!  There was just a lot of stuff to shoot!  Actually now that I’m thinking about it, 4 of my 5 images came from that same September – November stretch!  Lots of inspiration I suppose!

Well with that, I’ve rambled enough.  Let’s get to the pictures!  Holly and I hope you all have a blessed New Year!

–Dan Thompson