Written by Nerelle Moffitt
January 16, 2020
The end of a decade and the beginning of a new year are a good time to reflect upon one’s life. I’m slowly combing through my journals and photo archives, and digging up my favorite memories of 2019 to share here.
To preface, 2019 was an incredible year for me. I’m truly so thankful to have been in the right place at the right time all these years, even though I’ve made a ton of mistakes along the way, just because it all led me here.
These were the highlights of my year.
January
My year started off on a good note. I rang in the new year on Ofu island Ian, his parents, and a couple of good friends. I sat in the back of a pickup truck for the countdown, banging on drums and wishing all a happy new year. I hiked to the top of Mt. Tumu to marvel at the best view of the Manu`a islands. I went snorkeling almost every single day and took photos of fish and coral, trying to ID them. I missed my flight back to Tutuila… on purpose, because of the government shutdown. I took an `alia boat to Ta`u. This was also the month I picked up crocheting again, I invested in my sleep, and endured my first furlough. Despite the longest government shutdown in US history, I took advantage of the time away from my desk to explore my underwater environment and spend quality time with Ian, our family, and our friends.
February
February is always short and sweet (like me, hahah). I took this month slow, and savored many sunsets from the balcony. We boarded up our windows and waited out a storm. It was a month of extra date nights, and I fully took advantage of Valentine’s Day to show my boyfriend (now my fiance) some love, and eat all the food at a seafood buffet!
A memorable day. And a harbinger from before we decided to host our wedding in Samoa.
March
This was a busy month for me, working on one of my biggest projects to date, coordinating and designing an exhibit at the Tauese P.F. Sunia Ocean Center for the inaugural Fautasi Heritage Symposium. Amidst all the busy work, I celebrated my 27th year of life doing some of my favorite things for my birthday weekend, like: went on a hike straight after work to camp on the beach with a great group of people, got on a boat with more friends to watch a ridiculously funny movie, spent an evening with my best girlfriends, enjoyed a luncheon that my coworkers planned in my favor, booked a couples massage that a dear friend gifted to me, and was surprised to come home and see all my neighbors gathered together for a surprise party for me! I felt like the luckiest gal to be surrounded by such amazing humans. March was also the month I took on a new web design client, helped a friend navigate her hotel’s sustainability actions, joined my first book club, went cliff jumping despite being a complete scaredy-cat, helped plan a friend’s surprise baby shower, and somehow managed to not crash after all the long nights.
April
If March was busy with many things, April was busy with just one major thing, and that was seeing my project through successfully. After hundredr"nnn1se_uprilr e/crw t/n">A tpa0e ndp99 u rga98n_m_en _u>t/ngln">Ahpnh _l