At the end of each year, I like to look back on it and consider how it all went. Each year always gives me plenty to reflect upon, and 2025 gave me even more than usual. Let’s take a look at how 2025 went for me.
In a way, 2025 was the year of goodbyes for me. I said goodbye to so much: routines, places, activities, and even some humans and animals. One of the biggest changes was getting and keeping a steady day job. Among other things, that helped me out a lot financially and made many of the highlights in this post possible. However, it also took away a great deal of my free time, forced me to change a lot of habits and routines, and put me around a lot of difficult humans, including one of the biggest bullies I’ve ever encountered. As such, one of the best things to happen to me this year also brought about massive changes and losses.
One major change that I never imagined happening was that I stopped going out swing dancing regularly. This was mostly from having to psych myself up so much before going out, feeling uncomfortable on many nights out, and disliking how predictable and shallow the interactions had become (in addition to some needless drama and hostilities that seemed to become par for the course at some dance events). Although having to wake up early the next day for work made it difficult, I stopped going out regularly over a month before I got that job. While I’ve gone out a few times to other dances since then, 2025 has been my lightest year for dancing since I started going regularly back in 2017.
I had a blast on all of the Disney trips I took to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom. They were all fun despite some difficulties (especially on my second day at the Magic Kingdom) and the fact that many attractions I love at Disney World closed down shortly after my trips. In fact, the main reason I took those trips was to say goodbye to MuppetVision 3D, PizzeRizzo, Muppets Courtyard, Tom Sawyer Island, the Liberty Belle riverboat, the Rivers of America, the Boneyard, the Dinosaur ride, and the rest of Dinoland U.S.A. Almost all of those attractions are already gone, and Dinoland U.S.A. will be gone soon. So many things from those parks that gave me wonderful memories as a kid are or will soon be nothing but memories.
I also said goodbye to MOSH at the location where it was for longer than I’ve been alive. Nothing about the outside has changed in the times I’ve driven by it since my last visit there. I don’t know how the inside looks at this point. I don’t think I want to know. It’s been heartbreaking to see the various difficult changes at Disney World parks this year. I don’t want to add even more heartbreak by seeing difficult changes at an equally special place.
The saddest part of this year for me was saying goodbye to my grandparents’ house. This was the first year since 2020 that we didn’t have a family gathering there around Christmas. Even after my grandmother’s death in late 2024, I still visited with some family members there as we sorted through everything, kept some mementos from my grandparents while donating or throwing away other belongings, and finished preparing their house for sale. Since their house was sold in late January and I got to spend a few nights there both to help with last preparations and also to make and enjoy some final memories, 2025 is probably the last year that I’ll get to visit family, spend the night, walk around the yard, and make more wonderful memories at that lovely house. Sometimes it still physically hurts to think that I’ll likely never get to do any of that again for the rest of my life. I did drive by their house a few days before New Year’s Eve just so I could see it once more before 2025 ended. That brought me some comfort. I’ll likely do that again a few times next year.
This was the first full year, first full calendar year, first birthday, and second Thanksgiving and Christmas without my maternal grandmother. It’s also been over three and a half years as well as four birthdays, Thanksgivings, and Christmases without my dog Sawyer. Those losses plus some extra busyness from work made it take longer than usual for me to get into the Christmas spirit. If I remember right, 2017 was when I started feeling sad around Christmastime, and each year has featured that. This year, it started on December 6th, mostly from missing the way so much used to be. I wish my loved ones were all still here and that I had more time away from work the week of Christmas. I was glad when the work we had scheduled on Christmas Eve got cancelled, which gave us an extra day off and let me spend Christmas Eve exploring a lovely lantern display at the zoo. That helped me get into the Christmas spirit and get out of the work mindset before the big day.
I’ve had hardly any contact with someone who used to be a close friend and no contact at all in over a year from someone who was like a mom to me. I don’t know why either of them did that, or why they hadn’t responded to my attempts at reaching out. One of them did eventually respond. As nice as that was, I don’t know if our friendship will ever be what it was before the long radio silence.
I miss the abundance of free time I used to have. Even after about nine months at my day job, I still don’t have a good balance between time and money. There’s so much I want to do, both in my usual routines and elsewhere, and work gives me hardly any time to do it. At least it’s also given me much more money than I’ve had in many years. I hope that investing will someday give me tons more free time so I can do as I like along with plenty of money with which to live comfortably. I’m glad that I’ve taken steps toward that by investing much more this year than I have in previous years, mostly into the Roth IRA I started earlier this year. For now, I’m enjoying the time I have off for Christmas and New Year’s and am dreading going back to work in early January.
On top of all of that, I still dealt with car and health issues this year. I don’t know what I’d have done if I didn’t have the money from my job to get my car back in good shape after some close calls and a few disgusting incidents. My health has been easier and far less costly in comparison. However, some tooth and gum issues that have flared up in the last week of this year have gotten me feeling concerned. I scheduled a dentist appointment for late January. I hope that can sort out the issue, and that I can get in earlier if someone cancels. Still, I fear what might be going on and what might be needed to fix it.
Fortunately, there were plenty of enjoyable parts of 2025. One highlight was when I learned how to ride the giraffe unicycle that someone from my local juggling club gave me. The seat post it came with was too short for me, which made riding incredibly difficult. After buying a longer seat post, it became much easier and made riding much more comfortable. It then took almost no practice to get the hang of it due to all the years of unicycling I’ve done.
While I did hardly any professional performing this year, the few gigs I had went splendidly. The Mardi Gras gig was fun and fairly easy, despite lots of sun. Dickens on Centre was the best one I’ve performed at so far. Nearly everything went well, everyone involved seemed to have a great time, and I loved seeing so many familiar faces in and around the event. The same goes for Crescendo Amelia’s How the Big Band Stole Christmas shows. I didn’t drop at all when I juggled onstage and had fun dancing in another number. With both of the winter gigs, it was wonderful seeing lots of familiar faces, many of whom I’ve seen every year I’ve done those events. I hope to see them all again next year.
One of the most interesting and unexpected observations came when I rewatched After Life in the last few days of this year. During the heavier emotional moments of the show, I noticed that the pain I felt through most of the viewings I had after Sawyer’s death was almost completely gone. Letting go so much over the last five years has paid off tremendously. With After Life, it allowed me to enjoy more of the funny parts while still having compassion for the characters and sometimes tearing up at the extra sad stuff without crying nearly as hard or as much as I did before.
Overall, 2025 was an extremely mixed year for me. I’m glad to say that it wrapped up quite well, and I’m glad it wasn’t as awful as several other years of my life have been, including most of the years in this decade so far. That said, I wish it had been much better, and I’d go so far as to say it was a bad year that had some nice moments and a good ending. I hope that the progress I made this year will carry over into next year and help make 2026 a much better, kinder, and gentler year for me.