Favourite year and why

Title says it all really - list the favourite year of your life and say why.

The most joyous moments in my life came in 2006, 2008 and 2011 when my children were born BUT
my favourite year taken as a whole was 1996.
I was 15 and discovering the joys of girls, alcohol, dirt bikes and rock music - all a little young, perhaps, but there you have it. Oasis, Blur and Pulp were riding high in the charts and I was discovering the wonderful music of the Stones, the Smiths, Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd from the generation(s) before. That really was my "summer of 69"!

2002 (my Son)
2003 (Daughter 1)
2006 (Daughter 2)

all above are exempt from this as they were huge years in my life.

I enjoyed 96 because I was in Spain partying for a week watching the euros.

However I would pick 1998 as my favourite, this was when I was part of a band gigging the pubs and clubs and moving to London.

The next one
Always the next one
I'd hate to think my best year is behind me, especially since every new one surprises me.

Honestly I would have to say 94' when I was like 5-6 years old because that is when I got my first video game system. It was for Christmas, otherwise I didn't have a good childhood. Sigh

I think we should embrace every moment in our life, no matter if its good or bad! They are there for us to learn, to become better... There is one chapter in my life that stands out and that would be the army. I hate it because I learnt how to kill and yet I loved it for learning how to fly a MI-24...

Nice thread, Ben. Nice to read things that give the poets on here a more personal face.

I especially like what Larry and Alfred said, very true statements!

My personal highlights:

1990- the birth of my only child, my beautiful son.
2010- the year I started my own practice as a weight consulant. For the first time in my life, I stepped out of the shadows and openly lead a business.
2012- my son's graduation from university. Could not have been more proud!!!!
2015- finished writing a book with Peter Edwards. Two years of blood, sweat and tears went into writing it. It is now sent to several prestigious literary agents in the UK...fingers crossed!

Great thread Ben...

Best years of my life so far...

My first memory of a hot UK summer 1976

My life changed in 1984, my father died. In short he was a brute and I found my freedom once he was gone, and have never looked back.

My first school boy crush 1985 - Mrs Woods an art teacher

My first love was in 1987

My first and only born - 2000

My First counseling session and when my eyes were truly opened. 2007

Joined P&Q 2008 - learned a thing or two and met a friend or two. Still learning and making friends.

Met my current partner/ Mate for life in 2010

1975, made all-state in football, basketball and baseball...and was given an invitation to try out with the phillies in clearwater, never happened though, tore my knee up and life took a different turn, but that was a great year....

2010 Christmas day, my first son was born Xavier Lee Shank, that was without a doubt the happiest day of my life, now I would become something I knew nothing about....a father

Jan 14th, 2013- the birth of my second son Zachary Cee Shank......my problem child was on his way, he is definitely the Karma of me.......lol

My best year of my life (apart from the childrens births etc), has to be 2015 when I finished writing a book (some 200 pages or so), with Ingrid.
The book kept us both motivated and on the right track, us jointly putting some 2 years of our lives into the novel, along with much blood, sweat, tears and many Skypes and plane fights to and from the UK and Holland!

Several copies have now been sent to Literary Agents,
and we now await their phone calls, and with luck, a publishing deal, along with hopefully, some TV or film offers! lol!

2008/2009. My best friend died, which was one of the low points in my life so far, but her death at such a young age inspired me to turn my life around. I was in a deep, dark depression, and had spent 2 years in my parents' basement working odd jobs and going to community college. I had a few thousand dollars saved up from my first job as a racehorse vet asst. so I spontaneously booked a flight to Australia and backpacked by myself (besides meeting some wonderful people along the way) for 6 months, including 5 weeks in SE Asia. The experience changed my perspective on life. I went from not knowing if I wanted to live another day to becoming appreciative of every breath.

Thanks for this thread, Ben.*
Oops, I wrote Darren on accident!

I'm now going through some health issues of my own, and I need to remember to appreciate every day.

"Some day we will all die, Snoopy."
"True, but on all the other days, we will not."

1994 - The year I was born.

1999 - When my first love was born.

2013 - When my first love died/ I graduated from High School.

My favorite year was 1975.....when I started dating my John.

My favorite year was 2013, i think it was a year of high emotional growth for me. it was the year i wrote "complete woman"....

then next to that maybe now 2015 is my new favorite because i moved to Holland and i am living on my own...

but just like Larry, i also love to believe the best is yet to come

I love what Larry said about the next year!! What a great thought!

I would have to say my best year in history would be 2011. It's when I rededicated my life to Jesus. The year prior I had gone through a car accident that left me with an awful injury, and months prior to the accident I had a miscarriage. 2010 was a rough, rough year, but God saw me through and helped me create some really beautiful friendships out of the hardships I experienced. 2011 I began going back to church and that's when I realized the way I was living life wasn't going to be a good path to continue on. I later got a great job that got my foot in the door to where I am now, and got engaged in August 2011.

Awesome thread! Love hearing everyone's stories and sharing moments that changed, inspired, made them who they are today.

I would have to say this current year. I'm in recovery from a few things from my past and it's a constant battle but one that I'm not going to give up on. I feel like this year I've come to realizations about acceptance, forgiveness, reaching out. So everything that I experienced or that happened in the past few years brought me to where I am today, and I am beyond grateful that I am here to live this year and grow each day in every way.

This is a great thread, if I do say so .......lol

On a serious note, I am genuinely sorry to hear of some of the things people have been through here but overjoyed that they have - or are - overcoming them.
I myself have always had a difficult time of things. My teenage years were trying and life doesn't always flow freely, but you really do never know what will come next.
I am 34 and gave up on the idea of poetry when I was 18 ( I have written nothing since then). Who would have thought, 16 years later I would alight on this site and be so changed by it?
It may sound silly, but all of us here know that being a poet means often feeling distanced from others; it is a symptom of a much deeper mental condition: A song comes on and a certain set of chords will move us to tears while those others in the room seem nonplussed. A film plays, and a scene will move us to distraction where it seems to have little affect on anyone else. And so you can spend your life feeling different - oversensitive or odd.
But then you find a whole world of people out there like you. It took me to the age of 34 to finally accept myself, to face the blackness that I'm willing to bet EVERY ONE of us on this thread has felt and embrace it. It makes us special and gives us our words when there is nothing else to answer those demons with.
I am drunk, so excuse the rant. But a friend once told me: Real truth is only ever openly expressed when we are not quite ourselves. Maybe. Maybe not. But I want to thank each and every one of the members on this site who, for the last 5 months or so, have (quite literally) changed my life.
All the very best,
Ben
ps. this poetry site is not 'dead'. We should stop worrying about the site and concentrate on what brought it into fruition to begin with: our love for poetry. If that exists, everything else will follow.

Well said, Ben. While reading, I felt like you were peering into my soul.

Your sentiment at the end about the site rings true for me. I don't think pnq is dead.

2010- The year I made the poem that makes me want to cry even now, when I thought about having children

2009 and 2010.... very powerful and positive years for me.. lots of blessings, new beginnings and fresh starts.