Friendship and guidance

This sweet sums up the year perfectly. It has been full of guidance and support from the very best people. At times I have felt like I needed my hand held and there was always someone there at just the right time that I could count on, keeping me on the straight and narrow.
Friendship is also not hard to find at our place either. We gathered to say goodbye to colleagues and some very good friends of mine who are off to pastures new. We then headed out to celebrate in our traditional fashion. There were around twenty of us at one point- not sure the town knew what hit it.
I received a surprise gift too and very kind words that left me a little emotional but I refrained from giving my own speech for fear of cracking.
It's been a very memorable year for me personally, it's overwhelming thinking about how far I've come.
I'm genuinely excited about the prospect of the new academic year.