This year was a rough one for me. It's been a series of struggle and distress as I lost two family members within 6 weeks of each other and had several minor health crises. I say minor because I know that many people deal with much worse health-wise but I've had very little in the way of health issues myself. I guess you'd say this year has been a real wake-up call.
In May my brother's oldest son was killed after an auto accident. He survived an accident and when he went up on the highway (perhaps in a state of shock) he was killed by an oncoming semi who didn't see him trying to flag him down. This happened days before my mom's birthday and as it turned out, the memorial was held on her 60th birthday. It was the first time in years that she had all her family together in one place but what a sad reason for us to all be together. My brother and his wife have one other son but I can't imagine the pain they've been enduring over the past while as they have had to endure all "the firsts". The first summer without him, the first birthday with him gone, the first fall when he would have started university, the first Thanksgiving, their first home, the first Christmas, the first New Year, and so on. Sometimes life is just HARD.
Just under 6 weeks later, very close to where my nephew died, my step-dad was killed in an auto accident. Another fellow ran a stop sign and hit Dad's SUV while he was on his return to the office before lunch. He wasn't wearing a seatbelt (he was a large man) and was thrown from the vehicle, dying at the scene. We saw the aftermath on the news a couple days after it happened. What a twisted mess of metal! Being that he and my mom were divorced a few years ago, I hadn't seen him a lot recently and it was a huge shock to me to lose him when he was only in his mid-50's. I always hoped that in time we would become closer and now that is not to be.
At the same time, I battled a virus for a time that played with my balance due to inner ear stuff in addition to the usual sinus and chest issues associated with this kind of thing. While most of the symptoms cleared up quite normally, the balance took a long time to return to normal. I've also had some blood pressure problems creep up on me that I've been having to deal with this year that were complicated by taking decongestants for the cold symptoms I've had this fall.
My family is in a time of transition this fall. Our daughter is on the threshold of adulthood, having just turned 18 in the past few weeks. She's still working on her homeschooled Grade 12 year as she's also been working full-time and more since June. It's been an experience to have her moving into the adult world when it hardly seems like more than a few short years since we brought her home from the hospital that very first time. It's amazing how fast time goes by when there are periods when it feels like they will never grow up. And now we know that it won't be long and her brother will be going through similar things.
Anyway, it's felt like an incredibly LONG year to me and yet, it's flown by with unimaginable speed at the very same time. So... all this to explain my absence to anyone who might have been watching for posts here. It's been quite the year.
Dee..
