Some years go by without changes worth mentioning. Others arrive with a shift so deep you only recognize it when you look back. As I stand at the beginning of a new year, I’ve been thinking about where I was a mere twelve months ago… about how little I understood about what would unfold right in front of me in 2025.
This time last year…
This time last year, I did not know I wouldn’t be on kidney dialysis. I did not think I would wake up one morning and realize the machine that once dictated my nights and travel plans was no longer part of my daily routine. I did not know my days would stretch wider or my energy would return in small boosts.
I did not know I would have a new (used) kidney. Not just any kidney, but a working, thriving, life-giving one. A kidney that would let me plan life more than a month or so ahead. A kidney that would remind me that hope can still arrive even when you least expect it.
I did not know I would lose a job not long after being accepted to the UNMC transplant center. I did not know I would gain another, a month later. I would have never guessed that endings and beginnings can arrive side by side.
And I did not predict my friend Jeff would step forward to trigger a paired (cross-match) kidney transplant exchange so that I could receive a kidney at all. I also did not know that somewhere out there, a person I had never met would say yes to donating their kidney to me, a gift that would become part of my life and future. Jeff and my donor’s selfless choice set so many things in motion, and their generosity completed the chain that made my transplant possible.
Life rarely announces its drastic turning points in the way we’d prefer and comprehend.
This year handed me more than I expected. More grace. More change. More healing. In the hardest seasons of life, people are willing to walk alongside us, lift us, and sometimes even save us.
As I step into a new year, I am carrying all of it with me. The surprises, the losses, the gifts, and most of all – the second chance. I am carrying the truth that what once felt impossible has become my reality, the gratitude when I think of Jeff, my donor, and the generosity that made my transplant possible.
If last year taught me anything, it is that we never know what goodness is already on the way. We never know what kind of healing is coming. We never know when a new chapter is about to begin.
But we keep going. We keep hoping. We keep saying yes to the life in front of us.
Here is to a new year. Here is to the unexpected. Here is to the grace that finds us again and again. And here is to the people like Jeff (and my donor) who make the impossible real.
Happy New Year!