The Year That Was

So long 2017. Greetings '18.

I thought I'd take a few minutes and ponder the year that was my 2017.

Our pack size regained it's happy medium (in theory) when without warning I committed our family to a new four-legged member. It took almost a year after the loss of our other dog and everyone else was more than ready by the time the wild hair took hold and a squirming, furry bundle of kinetic energy chewed through our front door and into our lives. I made it through the "puppy blues". I made it through teething (barely). He's my little snuggle buddy (or more accurately, I'm his) and has livened up all our lives.

The bullet journal didn't revolutionize my life. Sigh. I am chronically, systemically, hopeless unorganized. My life is also humdrum, mundane and predictable - until it's so far into explosive chaos without warning that I can't see straight. That's the two settings of my life. These things I was not able to reconcile with the addition of a bujo.  I either had the exact same daily to-do's to keep track of for weeks on end OR didn't have time to slow down to track a single thing. I gave up on the bujo attempt after several months but still consider perhaps turning the fancy notebook into some kind of personal reference book - lists of meds for each of my folks, character name ideas I come across You know, like I already have an app for in my phone. Just analog. Because I've got a spiffy journal sitting around with glorious, glorious empty pages...

I surpassed my (admittedly low) books read goal for the year. I read half again more than the goal, so I definitely think I've got room to stretch 2018's bar. Considering I've got more books on my TBR list that I can finish in a lifetime and more being added all the time, I need to move my ass. Or, sit kind of still and focus. Whatever.

My foreign language lessons fell by the wayside. Boo!

Writing group is (dare I say) flourishing. Regular meet-ups. New faces. Semi-regular outings. Sharing projects & entering contests together. It has been a sanity saver on so many levels for 2017 that I cannot begin to explain. Which speaks so well of my vocabulary and wordsmithing, doesn't it?

Which leads me to NaNoWriMo. As if I could leave that out. Grueling as ever. Super bummed that the local group didn't host all the events. A mixed bag as ever. Still not done with this $@)*&*&@) work in progress. I want to get it to some sense of completion, put it away for a while and start on a new story that has been clamoring for my attention since about summertime.

While my blog posts have been spotty at best this year, my fiction ideas continue to multiply. Must write freaking faster. Must block out distractions. Look at that. I made myself laugh. How bad do I want to keep going though? I want it, so I keep plodding away at the pace I've got to work with and dream of a time when I can hammer out exactly what I want at a faster pace. Practice, practice, practice. With a bit of peace in my home. So a miracle basically.

And I cannot review 2017 without the co-headliner to the new dog: breaking my foot and the wacky chaos that ensued. Is still on going. I'm healing. Bone is repaired. Musculature, nerves, etc takes longer but is on the mend. My healing foot looks kind of skeletal from atrophy, but I'm working on it.

Less social media. What would you do if you didn't scroll endlessly through instant pot recipes, selfies and endless ego stroking pleadings for attention? I'm scaling back my viewing and what a breath of fresh air.

I'd like to travel some in 2018 (okay, a lot but I'll take what I can get). Though if travel isn't in the cards again this year, I hope there's a kinder way to let me know than a series of car repairs and surgery. I want to read more. Write more. Laugh more. Nap more. I want to record family stories from my dad. I want to have ridiculous fun with my husband. More doggie snuggles.

Happy Near Year! May 2018 be more wonderful than we can imagine.

Calendars and 2016 Musings

One of the last things I do at the end of the year is go calendar shopping. Or, depending on how late I'm running or how much of a discount I'm itching to get, sometimes it's one of the first things I do in a new year. I'm flexible. Regardless, it's calendar season at my house. That time of year when you crawl over hordes of people crammed into the smallest area a bookstore could think to put up the display or, for the adventurous types, when you avoid eye contact with the sometimes shifty-looking employees of the pop-up calendar & toy store at the local mall.

He doesn't know why you can buy a board game and matching calendar either.

For the person of a thousand and one interests *cough* like me, calendar shopping can be a little much. Is this the year I get landscapes of any one of the countries I adore? Something funny instead? OMG-look-at-all-the-cute-puppies!!! Something literary and witty? BUNNIES! Dark and spooky? Choice overload. The last few years I've opted for zen and/or positive quotes with equally soothing (or whatever) simple images. I'm not sure they did much for me, so maybe it's time to go a little madcap and silly.

And speaking of the year coming to a close...

I don't necessarily think 2016 has been the worst year. But for many people I know, it's certainly been a dark and difficult year. We've had a tribulation or two here as well. And the seemingly endless culling of so many public figures took a toll on hope and spirits everywhere. It started with a roundhouse kick to the head and ended that way, too. From David Bowie & Alan Rickman all the way through to George Michael, Carrie Fisher & Debbie Reynolds. I stopped being able to articulate what some of these people meant to me, what their careers or their activism inspired and encouraged, before the second quarter of the year. With this (hopefully last round) starting at Christmas, I was quite ill and too sick to register the full impact of their passings.

With all that in mind, I present what 2016 was for me personally.

2016 is the year:

• I got annual passes to the mouse's house. Childhood dream unlocked.
• My cousin came to visit and I made my grandpa's sauce recipe.
• My friends and I explored new activities and places. 
• My dog died.
• My husband was officially diagnosed with autism.
• I avoided being hospitalized by sheer stubbornness.
• I became a trusted confidant in my oldest nibling's life. 
• I learned something new about how to treat my PCOS that almost 20 years of doctors never mentioned before. 
• I went to a funeral for a friend for the first time.
• I finally got my ass back to the doctor after putting it off for too long. 
• I learned how to unclog a garbage disposal on my own.
• I learned how to make salisbury steaks, soups, couscous & more.
• I caught up on classic literature I missed in high school & college. 
• I began refreshing my foreign language skills & inspired my dad to do the same.
• I survived. Every thing I stressed over, every moment I wasn't sure I could handle, every time I thought I might break in the year, I made it through. I've laughed and cried with family and friends. I had food in my pantry and on my table. A roof over my head, hurricane or shine. I have memories of those who are no longer here. For every worry or moment of uncertainty, there is hope.

Happy New Year to you & yours!