Melodi Kazazi; Junior, enjoying New Year’s Eve next to the Christmas tree. She, “hung out with [her] family and girlfriend” to ring in the new year. (Melodi Kazazi, used with permission)

New Year’s Eve is always a magical time. It’s a time to reflect on the things we’ve done this year and turn our faces to the things we want to do in the new year. As glad as we are to start fresh with the New Year, it’s always important to remember the things we were able to accomplish over the course of just a year.

Melodi Kazazi; Junior, is just one of many of us who are taking the time to look back on the memories 2024 was able to give us. She is proud of, “how much [she’s] grown and learned from,” as the year draws to a close and is grateful for her, “girlfriend and best friend of seven years who have never left [her] side”. Even as she’s about to start her, “passion project which [she’s] been planning for the past few months,” she will take the memory of, “puppies at the Pasco Animal Shelter,” who, “finally trusted” her while she was doing volunteer work this year.

A new year means a new us. New opportunities, new jobs, and a new start. As we shed last year’s bad moments off, let’s take the good memories into 2025 and make even more to take into 2026.