Good-bye 2006.

How was your 2006? Was it a tough year, a good year? Was there too much pain or plenty of love? Or was it all of that and more? For me 2006 will be remembered as a good year!

In terms of numbers, I think 2006 looks like an incredible year. I made a year's pay in 6 months of work, spent 4 weeks in Canada with my parents, had two diving vacations and enjoyed 110 dives. In it's details 2006 was much more complicated!

I started the year unemployed, with pending immigration problems. January and February were stressful! But being (illegally) deported from the U.S. in March made things much worse. And solving my work permit problems only meant going to work. In 6 months I made a year's worth of pay. And for most of that time I worked 80-hour weeks, thus putting in a year's worth of effort. Such work isn't healthy.

But thankfully things got better. I signed on with a dive shop in Boston and did a divemaster internship. Weekdays sucked while weekends were spent as underwater as possible. And as the year progressed it just got better.

Soon I was in Canada visiting my parents (a second time) and then home in Amsterdam. With one job contract ending I got lucky and stepped straight into a new contract (which starts soon). And I've been able to regain the parts of my soul and sanity I lost working so hard in the U.S.

Last month's trip to Bonaire was one of the best choices I've made in a while! My ideas of what scuba diving can offer me have been refined and clarified as a result. And I like them.

And thus far in life, I don't think I've had a period as relaxed as this past November and December. Not working, but with the next work lined up. I took it as a much needed vacation. One I had promised myself while working in an office late each night.

So that's the summary of my 2006. It contained some pain, and a lot of experiences I'm glad I've had. It involved meeting a lot of great people, and going a lot of places I never expected to be. I could never have guessed what my year would have been, and yet it met all my goals and needs. So I say," Good-bye 2006. You were a great year." Now let's look forward to 2007 being all that a more.