2019

What did 2019 bring us?

Well. Hmm.
NO medical incidents! Wow. That was awesome!
Family unrest. Well, yes that happened.

MDD. I visited the black hole with Rich. And it is not a pretty place. However by June we saw him climb out of despair.

I learned to drive the skid steer. I broke the skid steer. I hired out to get it fixed. Becoming a shade tree mechanic is NOT my forte.
But I can change the oil in the little mower. I got help to do the 4 wheeler and the big mower. Both are in line for a tune up this spring.

MIL was taken to the nursing home. Her Helping Hands folks were doing their best, but her health was precarious and her slippage was getting the best of her.

I discovered Infrared photography with a little converted pocket camera. I fell head over heels in love with the look.

I met Miss Molly and she was a welcome relief from constant running to Pulmonary Therapy appointments and physical therapy. She made me stop and ride mules with her. I have her to thank for many things.

I bought a cross between a road and dirt bike and rediscovered bicycling distances. If I had fenders, I'd be out on these nice days fighting the wicked muddy gravel roads!

Rich had the knee bursa moved and it was a great success. The attending doctor described it as 'kinda gross looking'.

We had some great visits from my Kenosha Gang and I got to dog sit Teslin!

When I look back on the years, I generally see them as pretty good. I'm lucky to be with a partner that I really respect and love and I know it is reciprocated but not always very evident.
Yes I am Rich's CareGiver, but I am his partner too.

Our lives are pretty good. We have a roof over our heads, plenty to eat, and we have each other.
Color me blessed.

How lucky am I too also be making new friends through CrossFit.

Last but not least is a new interest in macro photography.

Oh there is so much more, but I will leave things like that.

Out with the...old year...

I generally don't get too excited about New Year's Eve or the coming of the New Year. I got over that when I was a kid. My folks let me stay up and watch the programming on TV. 
As I got older the appeal of just watching the event on TV got old and I went out to a party.

That was just as much a bummer. I recall calling my father to tell him my date had too much to drink and so had I. We were only blocks away and dad came and took me home. 
I think that was my last Party like that. 

I think I stayed up a few times with my own kids, and probably a few times just to watch the clock to see if I felt different at all.
I didn't.

Now? It doesn't really matter. Each year has brought some sort of new challenge.
I don't remember the past three years for all the incredible things that happened. But for those years labeled as. 2015, the year of cancer. 2016, remodeling [that was a great year], 2017, the year of the stroke.
2018, the year of The Depression, and the year to learn about Pulmonary Emboli. [Oh and MIL's hospitalization and learning about dementia and elder care]

It wasn't all that horrid. But I could do with my son's idea from years ago. The Suck Box.
So I'm going to write what Sucked about 2018. I'm going to put it in the Suck Box and burn it. I'd do it at midnight, but we are under a weather advisory with sleet/ice/snow. Perhaps the Suck Box will burn today instead.

2019.
Will you be kinder to those around me?

I guess we will wait and see.