2022 has been the roughest and, somehow, the best year of my life. Strange, no? I thought, for the holidays, I’d write a little timeline update from this year, discuss the trivial and important things, mostly based on how much they impacted me.

January

I finally caught Covid. It was a brutal five-day hangover mixed with the Flu. I felt like garbage the whole time but came out of it ok. I did lose my sense of smell and taste, which was pretty interesting actually. I tried pretty spicy sauces to see if I could even taste it, and I couldn’t. Pretty wild.

I was also dealing with a malfunctioning gallbladder and had been for four months at this point. That didn’t help things either.

February

I had my gallbladder removed and spent a few days recuperating at my parent’s house. They were good enough to keep an eye on me while I recovered and bring my car home from the hospital as well.

I began the interview process for DevOps Engineer at Washington Trust Bank!

March

I started at Washington Trust Bank as a DevOps Engineer! It’s been a wonderful year at a fantastic company, and I’m looking forward to many more. It’s been rewarding to work for a company that invests back in the community.

April

I went on the Spokane Party Trolly in late April, and we only had a little rain. It’s a ton of fun, and we got to try out a few new places as well. I never thought I’d ride on one of those, as it’s a bit of a nuisance for traffic in Spokane, but it was more fun than I’d thought it would be.

May

I went on a camping trip to Lake Sullivan with my friends and brother. With the exception of Justin arriving late (he had a migraine, took a nap, and drove up after, arriving at the campsite just before 1am) with our gear, we had a great time fishing, hiking, and enjoying good company and conversation.

June

I played Tenor Saxophone for the Spring Concert of the Spokane Falls Community Band, which is an open band at SFCC. It was a blast of a concert, even if I flubbed my solo a little bit.

July

I, along with a couple of colleagues, went to DevOps Days in Seattle. It was a two day conference designed around automation, cloud architecture, and developers. It was a blast, and we got to meet up with one of our infrastructure as code partner, Pulumi.

This trip to Seattle also allowed me to catch up with a good friend of mine, Bin, who now works for CrowdStrike (it’s an internet security company). We enjoyed a few beers at Optimism Brewing on their patio, making the best of the summer weather.

August

I played some Golf with coworkers for our Q3 team lunch. We played 9 holes of best ball at Indian Canyon golf course, our day cut short by the possibility of fire spreading from a neighboring area. Interestingly, this was the day of my brother’s dress rehearsal and dinner for his wedding.

I had placed my glasses in the golf bag when I put my sunglasses on. I’m like Velma, I absolutely cannot see without my glasses. It was a very sunny day out, and after we were done golfing, I didn’t even think about my normal glasses. I drove downtown to pick up some friends and bring them to another friend’s house for some food before the rehearsal.

It wasn’t until I pulled up to our friend’s house in Garland that I reached for my normal glasses, only to realize they weren’t in the car. I almost immediately remembered they were on the diagonally opposite side of town, in a golf bag.

I raced back to the golf course, but it was the beginning of rush hour, so I wasn’t going anywhere fast. I was able to retrieve my glasses, but ended up having to go directly to the rehearsal up North past the Wandermere area at the Commellini Estate. We had a good rehearsal and a lovely dinner at SteamPlant afterwards.

September

My brother Andrew got married to Daylyn on September first, and I couldn’t be happier for them!

The Spokane Symphony came back with a roar, starting off the Season with the Fantasique Symphony.

EWU tailgating season also started in full swing, unfortunately it turned out to be a very bad season for EWU football.

October

Washington Trust Bank partnered with No~Li Brewhouse to put on a Gonzaga Basketball watch party. Me and a few other employees were handing out $20 giftcards to No~Li, which was a ton of fun. The game was a bit rocky, but the food and beer were great.

November

I turned 31, and this month also marked one year since I returned to Spokane from Portland.

I went to Seattle to see Cory Wong in concert for my birthday, along with Andrew and Daylyn. We went to the Chihuly glass art museum, as well as the Space Needle.

I also got my Tesla Model 3! It’s been a fantastic car, and I’m very hopeful for the future of EVs after experiencing this one.

December

My brother put on his first Christmas concert at Gonzaga Prep this year! My friendgroup did a FriendsGivingMas, and my family had an early get together as well.

It’s looking like a quiet Christmas Eve at Grandma’s house this year, and a quiet day at the folk’s for Christmas day. Andrew’s coming over to make Christmas dinner, which sounds amazing.

As we wind down the year…

Remember that we’re still here and, for myself, with a little more than usual to be thankful for. I’m very grateful I found my position at Washington Trust Bank, I’m thankful that my Spokane friends and family have made an effort to bring me back into the fold after being gone, and I’m thankful that I get to spend another year in good health with my parents and siblings.

It’s easy to lose sight of what’s important, to each of us. For me, it’s family, and it took leaving my hometown to realize that. It’s the familiarity of being able to drive anywhere in the city you grew up in without using a map. It’s bumping into a friend or coworker at Atticus. It’s being part of a community, which is a difficult thing to rebuild in a new city (especially during a pandemic lockdown).

I’m happier than I’ve been in quite a few years, and I hope you are as well.

-Dennis