My Year in Review: 2021 Part Two
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1. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Guys, I fall like a lot. I can be innocently walking on a trail and go down. I fell in a crosswalk in Seattle and on my face when I stepped on the ice. It was the year I accepted Todd is Body Smart, and I just can’t keep up with him (not that I ever could). Moving from a steep driveway to a flat parcel is enormous. I was scared of a severe break at my other house. Another of the countless blessings in our move.
2. What was the best thing you bought?
Besides our forever home? A CAR! Like a 2022 car! My first new car EVER! We only got a $250 credit for our 2007 Honda Pilot. I knew it. I tried to tell friends. Todd drives cars into the ground before he knows we need to replace them. My friends’ mouths still dropped when I told them our credit amount. I was the primary driver of that Pilot for years during my grief over the way my empty nest happened. That car was WAY more immense than I needed. I hope I can drive my new car for 15 years, cuz that’s how long it will probably be before we buy another one.
3. What was your song for this year?
“It Comes and Goes in Waves” by Greg Laswell. It was released in 2008 but was meant for me now. For you. You don’t know how to get through today, much less tomorrow, when our country and the world are in crisis. Friends, I know what it’s like to sit in a parking lot weeping with snot running down my face, gulping for air because my heart for one of my children has been shattered. And I know what it’s like to walk into a home I’ve dreamed of my whole life and be okay that it’s home mainly for just Todd and me. I know what it’s like to stand in a shower shaking from alcohol withdrawal. But I also know what it’s like to look in the mirror and see a face no longer puffy from addiction. It Comes and Goes in Waves, Loved Ones. I have had to live on the extremes of the bell curve. Hopefully, it will never happen again in such extreme ways, but since it has, I can tell you:
“This one’s for the torn down
The experts at the fall
Come on friends get up now
You’re not alone at all”
4. Compared to this time last year, are you thinner or fatter?
Guys. Gals. Whoever you are, hear me. This question sucks. Carry on.
5. Compared to this time last year, are you richer or poorer?
It’s not time to water down the truth. We had a windfall this year. Our theme when we got married was Danny’s Song. “Even though we ain’t got money, I’m so in love with you, Honey.” Todd had been a temp for one week when I walked down the aisle to him, and we brought our firstborn home to low-income housing. But here we are, on our dream property with a new car planning our first Great Britain trip, Covid notwithstanding. And we’ve hardly been the best money managers over the decades. I can’t believe I get to live here.
6. What do you wish you’d done more or less of?
Less hatred of my body. More writing. Always, always more writing.