Happy three-year anniversary to all of us! (+ Another hiatus).

We're 3 years old today. Exciting! I almost didn't want to do this. It's really interesting how I'm always excited for the anniversary when it's months away, but whenever it's finally time, something always seems to take my attention, but I decided that this time, I was going to say something today. No matter what.

Happy three-year anniversary to me (and you, if you've been a loyal reader). Starting this newsletter in 2022 played a significant role in my character development. It's important because I chose to do it despite how unqualified I felt to start a newsletter or write anything for anyone to read.

It felt stupid that I was going to write about myself and people would want to read, but I decided to do it anyway. I just wanted to talk, and somehow I knew there would be people willing to read.

Truly, you learn by doing. Just by starting, I've learned so much and done certain things that are not just beneficial to the newsletter but to me as a person. My personal projects are honestly one of the ways I get to build my skill set and be creative.

Obviously, my reasons (or purpose?) for starting (and writing) the newsletter have evolved over the years, although the “main purpose” has remained the same—I just want to talk. The lesson is: start today.

I'm so proud of myself and I'm thankful to you, too, for being here and reading the newsletters I put out. Super grateful for your support. Now, everyone say “Congratulations, Grace of Graceandbooks.”

I bought a cake. It's a small cake, but still—cake. I will be getting it tomorrow (I'm writing this on Sunday), so it makes everything more exciting—speaking of cakes, I recently learned that there are people among us who don't like cake, and worse, they hate chocolate cake. Very interesting set of people (derogatory).

Now, onto updates: nothing much, just school. In fact, this newsletter is also my way of letting you know that I’ll be going on another break—exams start next week (on the 17th) and it will be ending sometime next month. So, I’m taking a break, and I will be back in April.

I have more memories writing exams in this school than anything else, like, I have no memories of the classes themselves, just exams. Also, I feel like this semester was way too fast. One minute, it's the beginning of the semester, and we are starting out clerkship postings, and the next minute, we are preparing for exams. So fast.

Anyway, that's what is happening. I will be taking a break for my exams, and I will be back before you know it.

Also, since it's the anniversary—if you don't mind—you can send a reply saying some of your favourite things about the newsletter and why you read it, generally. That would mean a lot to me.

I actually used to have a folder where I kept screenshots of newsletter replies that I liked for whatever reason, but in a moment of weakness and doubt, I deleted them, and now I'm starting to build the folder all over again.

Luckily, I stored some of them in my digital journal, so not all of them were lost, but most of them were lost. So, yeah, if you're up to it, I would appreciate it.

Some of my favourite replies from over the years:

This would also be a good day to tell someone about the newsletter!

Thank you for being here. Bye x.

Pictures of the newsletter I just took. So proud.