So, I usually write a year-end recap about life in 2015. Instead, I decided to document on my Facebook page the top moments each day in my world during 2015. How did this come about? Well, I was scrolling through my newsfeed and Facebook’s app has a feature where you can see top posts of 2015 based the number of likes. From there, I got the idea to start my own top moments of 2015, starting with the 12th day left in 2015. So, in written form, here are my top moments of 2015!
Moment 12 (December 20th): The day WMCA, New York’s Christian Talk, became AM 570: the Mission.
Since May 2014, I have been helping out nationally syndicated host Kevin McCullough with his afternoon show on AM 570 WMCA. When the name changed, it changed our approach to bringing faith and God into this city and all other parts of the world. When the name changed, it inspired me to shape up and help KMC bring the news of the day with a Christian perspective. More shaping up would be done throughout the year, which I’ll touch on later in the top moments!
Moment 11 (December 21st) : Being outside David Letterman’s Final Show Doing a Feature Story
There were two facets of this moment that garnered it a top moment in my life this year. Firstly, the last time I really hung out outside David Letterman’s studio was at three years old. My dad and I were waiting for Terry Bradshaw to finish an interview. I have a habit of kicking around cups and bottles in NYC with my crutches and all of a sudden I whiffed and split my lip outside David Letterman’s studio. So, on his final day I considered it a victory walking away from the scene unscathed!
Secondly, there was an avid Letterman fan that made the Letterman suit out of cardboard and it was a farewell card. As Fox 5 was going to cover the story, they noticed I was about to interview the fan and backed away, allowing me to cover the story!
Moment 10 (December 22nd) : QC Softball Wins the ECC Title
This team has been part of my world for the last six years and in May when they won the East Coast Conference title, it was a pretty awesome moment! Still being involved with QC Athletics, I worked baseball’s senior day as the championship game was going on at the adjacent field. Well, wouldn’t you know it, timing worked out perfectly and I got to gather around the ladies and coaches and held the trophy with a lot of joy partaking in what they worked their hearts out for it year in and year out!
Moment 9 (December 23rd) : Learning to Cut Ties
2015 started with one negative person that really influenced my thinking, but by mid-June it reached a point where I couldn’t have this person in my world any more and since removing them I’ve felt really really good! See, I was always one to want to be friends with EVERYBODY, liked by EVERYBODY, accepted by EVERYBODY, but 2015 taught me it’s OK not to embrace the whole world, just enjoy the company of those who make my world the best each and every day!
Moment 8 (December 24th) : The connection with the Steinbrenner Family Lives on
Hard to believe this past July was 5 years since the passing of Mr. Steinbrenner. He would have my dad and I up in his suite nearly every game and the connection to the family has always been a special one. Early on in the season I was lucky to see them heading into the Stadium and that brought me up to their dad’s suite! So many memories up in the Bronx and 2015 was definitely a year those memories continued.
Moment 7 (December 25th) : Continuing the Garrett tradition
Fitting this moment fell on Christmas Day, since on Christmas my dad and I continued the Christmas morning tradition of going to St. Thomas Church on 5th Avenue and then heading over to the Rockefeller Christmas Tree and to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
This moment was inspired by actually sports. Going to the first ever Islander game at the Barclays Center is something that my dad instilled in me, where going to Opening Day or something historic in the city will always be something special to me, and I’m thankful he passed that down to me through the years.
Moment 6 (December 26th) : Closing a chapter
We were a week or so away from moving from the Late Night shift at the radio station to Afternoon Drive and I was helping clean out the QC Fitness center for renovation and it was at this moment I realized the gym that I worked in and grew up in wouldn’t be the same. So, it was on that very day, October 23rd, that I decided the time to pursue radio full-on was now! I leave QC feeling like what I was taught there will stay with me forever and I will always be a Queens College Knight at heart.
Moment 5 (December 27th) : NY 1 piece with Shannan Ferry on Running
In all the years I’ve been running New York Road Runner’s races no one captured that aspect fully as well as Shannan Ferry did of New York 1. After meeting each other at the Queens Father’s Day race, she reached out to do a piece, and it was a great piece!
Moment 4 (December 28th) : “You want to leave this planet, I’m trying to keep you here”
Words that resonate with me each and every day since that mid-2015 meeting with my doctor at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. I want to stay on this beautiful planet as long as possible, and if adapting to health needs is what it takes, I’m game to adapt!
Moment 3 (December 29th): The Return to Drive Time
Earlier in this post, I mentioned Kevin McCullough. On April 20th, life would change for 6 months moving away from Drive Time and into Late Night on AM 970: the Answer. For many days I’d be behind the boards from 2 PM – 12 Midnight and producing 3 shows a day. The same day I found out something spectacular, the first good news came from KMC that we were moving to Drive Time and for me, it was a real return to drive time! Yet, the six months in Late Night, was a form of growth and a lot of thinking on how to improve life overall after the show in the wee hours of the night heading home.
Moment 2 (December 30th): HONY Book
Another case of Facebook awesomeness, I was scrolling and saw Brandon Stanton would be doing a book signing of his new book “Stories” at the Union Square Barnes and Noble. My mom and I went over there and she got to meet the man that has brought so much to my world with one single post on a hot July day! In the book (pages 164 and 165, by the way) you get to see my mom and dad featured and for him to choose my story, and the stories of those that help make my story day in and day out is pretty special! Thanks again Brandon!
Moment 1 (December 31st) : Jordan and I featured on HONY
If you follow my Facebook or Instagram or pretty much life, you know I’ve been happily dating a girl from Connecticut, Jordan Farr. My number one moment of 2015 was the fact that she too got to meet Brandon Stanton and we were pictured together 7 months after Brandon put up the first picture!
Yet, behind the picture has been growth and love and working it out together day in and day out because that’s what love is and I hope 2016 brings you as real a love, or brings you the power to nurture your relationship!
The Writings of Alex Garrett 