Today is New Year’s Eve and with 2017 wrapping up I want to take some time to highlight some of the things that happened this year that make me exceptionally happy.

The first thing I want to highlight is going to ClexaCon. I know I mention this trip a lot and I even wrote about it a great deal while I was there, but the decision to go has changed my life. Choosing to go to ClexaCon gave me the opportunity to go to my first convention and to take my first solo trip. I flew on a plane for the first time by myself and I set up plans for an entire trip by myself. Thankfully once I arrived I was able to meet up with people and develop a friend group, which leads into my next moment.

I went to New York City and got my first tattoo. Okay, I didn’t go to New York to get a tattoo, but it was actually pretty high on the list of things to do. Krista, who I met at ClexaCon, asked if I would like to go to New York with her and we planned a huge trip. We saw the Statue of Liberty, we saw not one, but two shows, we wandered Times Square, and we figured out the best place to get tattoos. This trip then led to more wonderful experiences including Krista coming to visit me in Ohio not once, but twice and to her inviting me to come with her on the Orlando trip I am currently on.

The next major thing that happened this year was that I came out, well came out more than I was. I had told my siblings I was bisexual a year previously and had discussed it with my friend Bri even before then, even though I wasn’t ready to talk about it with my parents. This October I finally talked to my parents and was able to share my true self with them. I was very blessed to have a positive coming out experience and my parents accepted what I told them.

The final large moment that happened that I literally never expected to happen was that I started officially dating that friend I mentioned earlier, Krista. The two of us had spent so much time together, but had never discussed how we felt about each other. Yes, we are both chickens, but we were afraid that we’d damage our friendship if we shared our feelings. Krista took the plunge after watching Love Actually and revealed to me how she felt in a very sweet email and that night we spent four hours on the phone where I told her I felt exactly the same. We are both just so happy and I am so grateful to have her in my life.

Let me know some of your major moments from 2017 because I would love to hear them.

Share your thoughts with us in the comments or on Twitter, @thenerdygirlexp. You can find me on Twitter, @kleffnotes, on my blog, kleffnotes.wordpress.com, on my kleffnotes YouTube channel, and I run The Nerdy Girl Express Snapchat, thenerdygirlexp.