2021 in Review

I know this is a few weeks late, but the trip to the zoo for a family photo... yeah, hasn't happened yet. Blame current COVID numbers. *sigh* 

Our past year was full of so many ups and downs! I have plans for changing this from a lifestyle blog to a more specific blog this next year, but in the meantime I wanted to share the ups and downs from 2021.

 For the New Year we swapped our Christmas decor for an all-white Narnian theme, but postponed our annual gaming competition by a week to be able to care for Berlioz. Hyped on kitty-morphine and fresh from his neutering, he was VIOLENTLY resistant to the cone of shame, and we were literally afraid he might strangle himself. We spent the first week of the year sharing shifts watching to be an un-coned drugged kitty didn't lick his surgical site. A week of enforced insomnia might not have been what we had in mind, but our little guy is worth a few sacrifices. 

In March we had quite the scare. My son's lung spontaneously collapsed, and after an ambulance ride to the hospital and having an emergency tube inserted into his chest, he ended up having surgery and spending 10 days in the hospital, an additional 6 weeks recuperating at home, and then ANOTHER 6 weeks of part-time light work before being able to return to his regular work-schedule. He says the hardest part of it all was feeling better, and still not being able to do anything. *shakes head* I envy his ability to heal at superhuman speed, but am ever so grateful that he's completely healed now!

In May, my daughter's SECOND book was published! She is now the proud author of TWO (soon to be THREE) published books!!! Words cannot express how proud I am of her! They are truly amazing books, and I recommend them to absolutely everyone. 

They can be ordered HERE in both ebook AND print!!!

 In June we had a second medical scare... this time it was our dog. Spirit ended up spending three days in an oxygen kennel at the emergency pet hospital. She was in heart failure with the exact same heart condition that all three of us have. What are the odds? She recovered enough to come home again, with four different prescriptions that left her without appetite or energy, and a loss of bladder control. Poor pup didn't leave our sides for weeks after being cooped up with strangers poking her and prodding her constantly! She barely even touched sliced lunchmeat while she was there! 

In July, 531 days after I finally called a crisis center to ask for help, and 455 days after he moved out, my marriage of 26 years, 5 months, and 3 days was ended. 

On a much lighter note, we also celebrated a year of living with a kitty. He's grown so much from the 7 week old stray kitten we found abandoned under our house, into the sweet, snuggly, opinionated chatty house cat that he is today.

We never planned to have a cat, but this guy found and claimed us... and now we can't imagine life without him. 

In August we began a tiny project that still isn't complete thanks to strange weather. We have been turning our dining room into a vintage arcade-style game space, for our weekly game days. We were able to enjoy ONE game day with our entire church before COVID numbers started rising again, but we are absolutely looking forward to making this a monthly occurrence in the near future! 

On October 19th, Spirit passed away. She never quite recovered from her hospital visit, and slipped quietly away in the arms of my daughter. She is missed fiercely. 

 

 November saw us celebrating Thanksgiving TWICE; once with our church small group, and again just the three of us.And in December, in lieu of putting the tree up, we turned our living room into a candy land, baked mountains of cookies, and celebrated an Icelandic holiday, Jolabokaflod, with homemade chocolates and a trip to the secondhand book store. My daughter also had her first book-signing! 

2021 was a mess, but we survived more or less intact, and are looking forward to whatever this year has in store for us.