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What was the best year of your life (so far)?

Grenseal

Grenseal

Member
I saw a post asking about the worst year of your life and figured I'd post about a similar topic, but the opposite.

The happiest I've ever been in my life was the year my daughter was born.

What was your best year?
 
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My best years are a tie between the year and a half where I lived in Japan, and the year I graduated law school, passed the California bar and had my second child, all in a few months. Both of these years were milestones and unforgettable.

The year I spent in Japan was also meaningful because I met my future wife on the night I landed in Kansai international airport. I had seen her in LAX before my flight and thought she was stunning, but when she stood right next to me after disembarking the airplane, and we were the only ones asked to walked to the the same bus terminal to jump on buses to our new apartments, it really started feeling like fate.
 
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Dec 2012- October 2013. I travelled the world… crossed every longitude. Got home only headed one direction.

It was a version of myself that I felt like I was meant to be.
 
2011. My daughter was born, and the world finally made sense to me, or at least it was simplified, and in that simplicity I found what I'd been looking for.
 
My son was born in late 1989 the following Spring I made the opening day roster for the Reds and we won a World Series end of that year

No other year comes close
 
This year. Every year since retiring has been my best year, keep learning new dishes to make at home and reading stuff I used to never have time for. I spent several hours making Morrocan lamb stew for dinner, was good eating. Gonna try my hand at Tandoori chicken next week. Used smoked brisket in place of ground beef for a batch of chili last week as an experiment, best chili I ever made.
 
2010 my wife and I had a great year in our relationship and we were doing well financially. I had just graduated from college and I was full of hope for the future. We went on a fantastic 2 week vacation to the beach. The game industry was pumping out fantastic games and there was a ton of great movies too. One of the few years of my life where everything worked out.
 
I kind of take that back as one other year does come kind of close

I remember the day vividly that my ex wife told me she no longer could be married to a ball player and I had to pick between being a professional athlete or her and she lost that fight

That day alone made that year pretty great honestly
 
2005 was the happiest year of my life, I was 15, the gaming was good, the anime was good (following Fullmetal Alchemist on TV was an unparalleled experience), the lead up to the next gen consoles was exciting, I got the DS that year.

It was the one time I felt like what was going on in my personal life and an interesting time for the culture as a whole was in sync and everything fired on all cylinders.

The runner was up was 2006, 20 years ago this month was when I first got regular access to high speed internet, which was a mind blowing experience, followed by 2007, but there was something special about 2005 and it makes me very sad to say I've never been happier, nor felt like the culture was in a more exciting place, than 2005-2007.
 
2011 best one. I had a pact with my boss to party every night. Move to my penthouse at the time. Parties nearly every night.

Worst year might be this year, heart issues and other ones.
 
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Fall 2011-Summer 2012. Age 18-19.

Got my first job, felt like I was in the "in" crowd. Had lots of friends and associates at the time and was able to live freely, which I can't say so much nowadays.
 
When my wife and I first started dating, in our first year we partied hard in Ibiza, toured Auschwitz, dined in Paris, got drunk in a rainstorm in Havana and stood at the steps of the great Pyramid.. we just went fucking nuts
 
Artistic said:
Fall 2011-Summer 2012. Age 18-19.

Got my first job, felt like I was in the "in" crowd. Had lots of friends and associates at the time and was able to live freely, which I can't say so much nowadays.
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What's change that you've not feeling able to live freely? The political environment? People not treating each other with acceptance?
 
Probably a year in the mid 1990s. Maybe 97? I'm trying not to look back through nostalgic goggles or anything, but I genuinely think the end of the 1990s were great.

Favourite console in the PS1
My favourite time at school
Favourite era of wrestling
Favourite TV shows airing
Favourite time following my football club
My great grand parents were still alive
Didn't have any health issues
Didn't pay any bills
Unaware of Nickleback

It's hard to pick out an exact year as an adult because I don't think I've had a year that was particularly consistent. They all seem to be rather up and down.
 
So far I've had overall what I think is a very good life but the first thing that popped in my head was 1977 when I was 9 years old.

When I first saw Star Wars in the theatres I instantly knew I was watching something special.
Saw it 17 times this summer.
Ticket was $1:50 cents.
Arrive at the 11:30 AM showing with a lunch, stay inside & leave after the 9 PM showing 😄

Later that summer I also attended my 1st rock concert: KISS.
My mind was blown with this bombastic sensory overload Carnival spectacle combined with the pyrotechnics, Gene Simmons' fire breathing and Ace's smoking guitar solo.
Went home with my jean jacket reeking of weed 😆

Yup, 1977 was a good year.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Middle relief pitcher

Was never quite good enough to be a full time starter or closer
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I know you're humble but you were still part of the Elite.
The 1% of the 1%.

In 1993 my girlfriend's brother asked a friend of his to join us in a pick up hockey game on an outside rink.
The guy had made the training camp of the Quebec Nordiques but failed to join the team.
I was laughing calling him a loser.
I always considered myself a good hockey player, skating and playing since I was 5 years old.

But this guy was something else, skating circles around us and looking like Wayne Gretzky.
Made me eat crow and shut the fuck up 😄

The level of professional athletes is truly one of a kind.
 
John Marston said:
I know you're humble but you were still part of the Elite.
The 1% of the 1%.

In 1993 my girlfriend's brother asked a friend of his to join us in a pick up hockey game on an outside rink.
The guy had made the training camp of the Quebec Nordiques but failed to join the team.
I was laughing calling him a loser.
I always considered myself a good hockey player, skating and playing since I was 5 years old.

But this guy was something else, skating circles around us and looking like Wayne Gretzky.
Made me eat crow and shut the fuck up 😄

The level of professional athletes is truly one of a kind.
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I appreciate the kind words

For a few years after retiring I played in several fantasy style camps where people pay money to spend the day working out with players and eventually we play a game

The organizers of said events always reminded us these are fans and go easy on them and let them get hits and let them feel great about their experience

Every single year we would get that one or two guys who would yap the whole time on how easy hitting was for them in High School and if this wouldn't have happened they would have played in the Majors

This guy right here would never lollipop pitches to them, my goal was to show them what even someone pitching at 75% was like to someone who had a real job and maybe played softball with the guys on weekends

sit down basketball GIF by Austin Peay State University
 
EternalSunshine1976 said:
Amazing. You were good enough to be called up to the big show, which is more than anyone that I know could say.
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Was able to stay up for 10 years which came with a few perks to reach that 10 year mark

Something very cool after 8 years you are given a gold card that is the size of a credit card that gives you and a guest free tickets to any regular season game at any stadium for life.
 
Given that I wouldn't know how to improve my life at the moment I'd say right now and also the past few years.

I don't live an exciting life. I guess I could but I'm not really eager to. Did some, what others would probably call exciting, things in the past and it didn't really do anything for me personally and since I don't thrive in front of others when I brag about stuff I've done, I just stopped chasing it all together.

Problem I guess is that I've maybe been living this well way too long, so it's starting to lose this goodness every now and then. Hedonic treadmill's a bitch. It often does help when I remind myself of that though.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Was able to stay up for 10 years which came with a few perks to reach that 10 year mark

Something very cool after 8 years you are given a gold card that is the size of a credit card that gives you and a guest free tickets to any regular season game at any stadium for life.
Click to expand...
That's really cool. I'd be at 100 games a year!

Who was the player that had your number and just always seemed to get hits and even home runs?

I also always wonder how it feels for someone that competed at those levels many years ago to see the crazy money that is being thrown around these days. I remember when it was announced that Ohtani got signed for 10 years for $700M and at that point he was only able to be a designated hitter! I was shocked and wondered if it would be worth it… I say this as a diehard Dodger fan… I say this as someone that lived in Japan for more than a year and love their culture of excellence… Now? I feel he is underpaid…

Soto on the other hand, that is going to be an albatross contract in a few years. What the hell were the Mets thinking with that one?
 
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EternalSunshine1976 said:
That's really cool. I'd be at 100 games a year!

Who was the player that had your number and just always seemed to get hits and even home runs?

I also always wonder how it feels for someone that competed at those levels many years ago to see the crazy money that is being thrown around these days. I remember when it was announced that Ohtani got signed for 10 years for $700M and at that point he was only able to be a designated hitter! I say this as a diehard Dodger fan… now I feel he is underpaid…
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Tony Gwyn, hands down best hitter I ever faced

This is a time before players could go look up instant highlights of what others can do like now when you see a relief pitcher come in the batters are looking at Ipads getting breakdowns

I was brought in to face him one night and he never left on deck just watching me warm up

I was a pretty basic 3 pitch type of guy fastball, change and curve

He saw my fastball and yells out at me something like "Dont throw that, I might hit you taking that pitch right up the middle"

I throw a change and he says something "easy hit between 3rd and short"

Lastly my curve and he says "slapping that shit to right"

He finally gets in the box and I throw a pretty good low 90s pretty much painting the black on the inside part of the plate and he does indeed hit it right at literally going between my legs

While he was at first I kind of glance over there and he was smiling and says something like "I warned you on the fastball"

And Ohtani is amazing though I do wish they would stop pitching him and just let him hit
 
2014. While I think 2013 was more life-changing, in 2014 I became better at skiing, hiked in amazing and challenging places, got to do tons of new things from a professional perspective, and it felt like I was on some sort of permanent vacation.
 
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HeisenbergFX4 said:
My son was born in late 1989 the following Spring I made the opening day roster for the Reds and we won a World Series end of that year

No other year comes close
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Being Hoosiers, my grandma and grandpa on my mom's side are lifelong Cincinnati Reds fans, and so is my mom. They watched you guys play back then. Now my grandparents are in their 90s, and their kids are rotating living with them to take care of them, and they continue to watch Reds games together. So thanks for helping to give them bonding experiences; very cool to run into you on here.
 
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1996 was the goat

Super Mario 64, Resident Evil, Tekken 2, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Soul Edge, Spice Girls, Independence Day, Scream, Trainspotting, and probably a bunch of other cool stuff I'm forgetting

The '90s was a great decade in general, but '96 was the peak. Just a heady, intensely memorable year from start to finish
 
When I was around 16/17. I started to go to raves and experiment with drugs. Man it was complete freedom. Lived with my parents, always outside with the friends, going to a rave in the weekend, next day completely wasted watching movies with a joint at somebody's place which parents are not at home.
Just no worries; only fun. 2001/2002 it was,.
Great times.
 
I tried to think of a best or a worst year and I can't answer those questions. I could say that the year my daughter was born was the best year, but it is really all of the years after including the birth of my granddaughter and all that comes with that. I could say that the year I got divorced (with a young daughter) was one of the worst, but that divorce allowed us to better raise our daughter together. We were able to get out of each other's way and grow up, but we still made parenting decisions together. Obviously, losing my parents, sister and grandparents were low points in my life but I feel like those were a shared loss with the rest of my family. I think answering these questions is so hard for me because my best and worst times come in moments and it is how I carry them forward.
 
I think I was at my happiest as a kid, like 10 to 15-ish, biking around, playing all sorts of sports. I have vivid memories of summer, biking down my street, I can still smell the dust kicking up from my bike, and I remember the girls we chased.

It's sad to go that far back, but I can't remember feeling as happy and free as I was back then.
 
I am the easy going type of guy so a few good things can make a year good for me, I guess 2019 and 2016 do standout I was pretty happy. 2025 and so far 2026 has been pretty fucking awful though.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Every single year we would get that one or two guys who would yap the whole time on how easy hitting was for them in High School and if this wouldn't have happened they would have played in the Majors
Click to expand...
I practiced Aikido for 8 years from the late 80's into the 90's and everytime a new Steven Seagal movie would come out we would get a handful of newbies just eager to break some arms and kick ass.

When you showed them they would first have to learn to fall properly on the mat for 2 weeks they wouldn't even show up to their next lesson 😊
 
John Marston said:
When I first saw Star Wars in the theatres I instantly knew I was watching something special.
Click to expand...
I only saw it a few times in the theater, but I remember there being news stories at that time about people that going to see it over and over. It really is one of those movies that was an instant mega hit and we all knew that it was going to be special.
 
The year of senior year of high school and freshman year of college. Got academic accolades & college scholarships I wasn't expecting. Went to state for athletics and broke a bunch of school records. Had the pick between three hot girls who were interested in me; all of whom may have been crazy, but I know the one I ended up with for a few years was. Got drunk for the first time. Went on a road trip with the boys. Worked construction and got jacked in the summer. Discovered great music. Made new friends.

And to those who say I peaked then, I say, just look at me now:
napoleon dynamite GIF
 
2019 and 2022 because my Son and Daughter were born in those years, and also my wife finished her NP schooling right before our daughter was born, so financially it became easier with two provider incomes.
 
EternalSunshine1976 said:
That's really cool. I'd be at 100 games a year!
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Just a follow up to this, I have only used mine a handful of times in now 26 years for a few reasons

The people at the gates have very rarely ever seen one so it usually takes some convincing to get someone there that actually knows what it is and more than once I have stood there for quite sometime waiting

The seats you are given are very dependent on how the stadium even wants to honor them as I have gone to places that the teams were not very good and plenty of empty seats were in the stadium but they still choose to stick me in the nosebleed sections

I have been turned away a couple of times as they claimed they were sold out which simply wasn't true
 
the last year for me.

Paid off my house, my investment portfolio hit all time highs and got dividends that just about cover all expenses. Work is cake, wife and kid are healthy, I'm not fully fucking broke anymore like I was for most of my life.

I'm ready to slow down.
 
Probably 1994.

I was 12. I had no responsibilities and a Super Nintendo. Had a ton of sleep overs where we stayed up way to late playing whatever we rented for the weekend.
That was the year we had a family trip to Florida for a few weeks to visit Grandparent's and while we didn't have Disney money we did go to Universal Studios, Busch Gardens, Sea World and an a place with a lot of Alligator's, which was pretty cool.
Got to swim in the ocean for the first time. Had sushi for the first time too.
 
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