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A look back at 2015, with thanks
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Firstly, secondly, thirdly, and all other numbers through lastly, thank you. Thank you for the emojis, commiserations, alcohol, hugs virtual and real, and all of the other countless ways you gave me boosts when I needed them this year.
Holy crap, this year. I mean, just, daaaamn. I mean HOLY CRAP, 2015.
In January I moved my parents into assisted living, sold their house, and then my mom died. It was more complicated than that sounds, because of ER visits and multiple facilities and other added degrees of difficulty. Also, the day after my mom died, I went out on a multi-city book tour.
Then in May my dad died. Again, added degrees of difficulty and multiple healthcare providers and lots of stress.
So, yes, much crap and a great weight of sadness.
And I’m not even going to mention other family crap that I don’t even wanna go into here. But holy crap.
But. That wasn’t all that 2015 was. It was also getting to see friends, and accepting support and love from them. Again, thank you, friends. I know many of you are dealing with so much — health issues, financial stresses, difficulties both acute and chronic. I hope I can do half as good a job helping you with stuff that you might be going through as you did helping me with mine.
Special shoutout to my cousins Michelle and Nicole for helping me move my dad. And to the caregivers and hospice nurses and workers who deserve to be paid millions for what they do.
And, as always, to Lisa. She was my rock. The kind of rock who gives you reasons to smile at least a few times a day and keeps you company during the worst kind of errands, and also reminds you that even in crap times, it’s still possible to have fun
In 2015 there were also dogs. HOLY CRAP, MY DOGS. They are so funny and cute and weird and entertaining. I seriously don’t know how I ever got through life before I had dogs. Dogs. They are awesome.
And there was a week in London, which we loved so much we’re going back next year, along with Edinburgh, Bath, and Oxford.
And did I mention I published two novels, Pacific Fire and Dragon Coast? And wrote a draft of a new book? Even wrote a short story or two?
So, there was much good in 2015. Some huge, major awful stuff, yes, but as the Eleventh Doctor says, “The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don’t necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant.”
Thank you all for being in the pile of good things this year. You are important to me.
