5 Ottawans look back on their best 2022 moments

From the catastrophic Eastway Tank explosion to the destructive derecho storm, the stories in Ottawa that captured headlines this year were often far from uplifting.

But 2022 found room for some heart-warming personal stories too.

CBC's All in a Day spoke to five people with close ties to Ottawa about their standout moments of 2022.

Here's what they had to share.

Nduka Otiono

In a year where his poetry collection DisPlace was nominated for an Ottawa Book Award, Nduko Otiono's best moment instead came in academia.

Otiono's writing ultimately helped set the stage for the moment that earned his choice for best of the year: being appointed director of the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University.

"The institute has become home, in many ways, at Carleton University for many black students and faculty and people of colour," Otiono said.

He had hoped to earn the title of director "somewhere down the line" but the opportunity came sooner than expected.

"Working at the institute transcended just every work day," Otiono said. "It was for me a central part of my identity — of my being."

Alykhan Abdulla

For Alykhan Abdulla, medical director at the Kingsway Health Centre in Manotick, the best moment of 2022 came on a Zoom call.

Celebrating his father's birthday, Abdulla joined his siblings and in-laws on a video call to chat, play games and share a meal.

"These are the amazing things, right?" he said. "People come together and you realize who are important people in your life."

Born in East Africa, Abdulla said he owes much of what he has achieved to his dad's decision to uproot and seek opportunity in Canada.

"If it wasn't for his sacrifice and his choice of coming over, we'd all be in a very different circumstance right now," Abdulla said.

Sally Thomas

Sally Thomas, a paralympic powerlifter, is planning her own change of scene.

When she joined a waitlist for "more appropriate housing situation," she was told the process could take up to 10 years. But Thomas said accessibility issues in her current home pushed her to try anyway.

Five years later, Thomas' best moment of 2022 came when she learned that a new studio apartment had become available.

Thomas is slated to move into her new home in February, but she said she'll first be busy downsizing her belongings.

"The first step is purge," she said.

Raoul Bhaneja

In late 2019, Raoul Bhaneja was forced to put his blues act, Raoul and the Big Time, on pause.

The Ottawa-raised actor and musician went more than two years without playing at The Rex Hotel, a long-running jazz club in Toronto.

Because the venue is where the band got its start in the late 1990s, Bhaneja said the bar has "been home" for the act. It's also what made Bhaneja's best moment of 2022 possible, when the venue booked his band for a four-night residency in the fall.

"Instead of just playing a one-nighter, it's kind of like the old days," he said. "I got the eight-piece band together and we played four nights straight."

But Bhaneja's best moment quickly turned to his worst, when he tested positive for COVID-19 on the morning of the final show.

"That sort of sums up 2022 for me," he said. "An amazing thing and then an absolutely crappy thing happening right beside it."

Lynne Hanson

For Ottawa-based singer-songwriter Lynne Hanson, the best moment of 2022 also came onstage — alongside a dose of heartbreak.

The youngest of eight children, Hanson said one of her older sisters was "absolutely instrumental" in her songwriting career but died this past fall after a brief fight with cancer.

Hanson has since released an album. Only after sitting with a box of her new CDs did Hanson realize she would no longer be able to send one to her sister or call her to talk about the songs.

The year's lowest and highest moments blurred.

Her best moment came while she was playing a show at the Recovery Lounge in Upper Jay, N.Y., her first since the pandemic began.

Alongside the excitement of a return to live music, Hanson felt like her sister was with her onstage.

"She's with me every single night," Hanson said. "And I think that's all that you can do — keep carrying them in your heart and you know at some point we'll meet again."