My Top 5 Moments of 2024 - Mia Madrid by Mia Madrid

Going on Adventures with my Boyfriend - May

mmadr27_1 — 2025-01-09 03:57:00 UTC

One of my top moments of 2024 would 100% have to be the crazy amount of time I spent hanging out with my Boyfriend. This picture, doesn't look so adventurous, but for me, it represents much more than a singular moment; It was taken at one of my many little cousins' birthdays! Noah and I were making friendship bracelets with my niece and eating caramel apples. Although this is one picture/moment, like id said it represents much more! For some context, My boyfriend Noah, came to almost all of my little cousin's birthdays, which are super-packed from February to June. We would always go together and eat yummy food, spend time with my family and baby cousins, and also participate in the little festivities that would be held at the party. The festivities would be from, helping make mini-pancakes to mechanical bull riding. All in all, I had so much fun spending time with my family and Noah at all of these parties and I'm so very excited for when they slowly start to come back in 2025!!!

Seeing Wallows on their ¨Model¨ Tour - September 12th.

mmadr27_1 — 2025-01-09 05:53:54 UTC

I first got introduced to Wallows when I began to steal music from my older sister, Anissah. It's funny when I think about it because even though we never talked about it, I'm pretty sure she knew I was stealing her music because she started doing this thing that would make it harder to find the title of the song she was listening to. But, I would just listen very closely and search for the lyrics. Right when I began to add their songs to my playlists, I felt I became a fan. I feel like my music taste has changed a bit from their type of indie, but I still enjoy their entire discography and check out their new releases. I went with my cousin Emi and her parents. Overall it was a nice night, and I had lots of fun seeing old favorite songs being performed, buying merch/taking pictures, and getting ready for the concert. On an ending note, I don't think my camera roll had ever been so full.

Road tripping to Utah for a funeral - July

mmadr27_1 — 2025-01-09 06:11:31 UTC

About a week after July 4th, My intermediate family and I road-tripped to Utah for the funeral of my great-uncle Stevie. It took one day, morning to night, to get there. It honestly wasn't so bad. I don't quite remember the exact route we took but we were in Las Vegas before we hit Utah. Las Vegas is where we had breakfast, which was very nice and yummy! The Funeral was the day after we arrived and It was nice. I never met my Great Uncle Stevie but he was very close to my grandpa and mom at one point. I read the eulogy my mom had written for him. Overall, it was a very beautiful service and we headed back to the hotel to change before going up a mountain to honor his favorite place. We were in Utah for like 4-ish days. The town we stayed in is called Milford and it was so very small and honestly, a little creepy. The only grocery store was a Dollar General and there were about 4 places to get food in the entire town. I think this experience was eye-opening for me because I'd never met all the family I spent time with but I loved them and connected with them regardless. This picture was taken on the mountain where my uncle Stevie loved.

My Birthday - December 24th

mmadr27_1 — 2025-01-09 06:33:41 UTC

I love my family and seeing them for Christmas. Although this memory is about my birthday, It's more of Christmas in general. I tend to feel sad near the end of the year but Christmas always gets my mood up. I see my birthday present as getting to spend time with my family and cousins on my dad's side of my family, which I don't see too much during the year. I feel this year was especially sentimental because it was my cousin's last Christmas, as she puts it, as a kid. After all, she's turning 18 this year. We spent Christmas Eve at my grandma's house like we do every year. We ate delicious traditional food, played board games, watched movies, and had cake for my birthday. We usually wait until about 10 or 11 every year even though you´re supposed to wait till 12 for Christmas to open presents, but, this year we operated a bit differently and decided to wait till exactly 12 to open presents in honor of my cousins wish to do it the proper way for her last Christmas. I ended up getting a beautiful necklace from my dad, an arts and crafts gift from my cousin, and $30 from my grandparents. We stayed for a bit more before packing up and leaving. It was a bit sad without my sister because she was very very sick which caused her to not be able to come to celebrate. In the end, I enjoyed spending time with my family a lot and making new memories with them.

FINALS WEEK 2024- December 16-20.

mmadr27_1 — 2025-01-09 06:51:46 UTC

Although this isn't a day that students are typically excited forr it, I was anticipating finals week and felt I was very prepared for it. To say the very least, I was definitely in for a ride! I scored nicely in all of my finals, but I was stressed because of my math and French grades. There were just a couple of misunderstandings and miscommunications between my French teacher and me on the last day which were upsetting. I felt not listened to and in a way- ignored. But I powered through and dealt with it regardless. At that point, I had no hope for my grade in French because those misunderstandings were affecting my final grade at that time. Especially because I had a clear plan for my 2025 semester and which clubs I was going to apply for, with a C ( Which I was also afraid of having on my transcript for future colleges to see), due to the grading systems of one particular club, I was afraid I wouldn't meet the requirements. Now in 2025, knowing my final grade for this class and whether my French teacher stood by his word, I will now remember this day for being notorious for having no faith in the things in life I cannot control. In the end, Instead of a C- I ended up with a B- and in Math, I ended up with an A-. I would like to take the memory of this day, despite being bad, into 2025 as a reminder to have hope and faith in the things in life that I cannot control!!

Getting my mom an Apple Watch for Christmas. December 20

mmadr27_1 — 2025-01-09 20:36:20 UTC

My mom is the hardest worker that I know. She barely gets sleep at night, wakes up incredibly early to work, and works practically all day at that. She makes dinner, every night, checks up on everyone around her, and loves radically on top of all of that. My sister, her girlfriend, and I chipped in money to get her an Apple Watch because my mom has always been obsessed with ¨Getting her steps in¨ and we felt that an Apple Watch, not only tracks your steps better than most smartwatches but offers many features my mom sought in the many Fitbits that she´s had throughout the years. We felt like although it was expensive it was only right to dedicate such a gift to her, as nothing really could make up for the price of work, support, and utter dedication she has given us all of our lives. I feel like this makes the list of the top moments for 2024 because it made me feel very nice giving back, and although it wasn't much, I feel like this is a good thing to keep in mind going into 2025, that you can always give back wether it's for your community, school, friends or even just your mom.