Well this year has been a shitstorm, eh? We started off with a bang and we're going out with a whimper, what a brutal piece of shit this year turned out to be. And you know, I have not a single fuck left about hurting this piece of crap year's feelings, or trying not to jinx the rest of the year with bad vibes (yeah, I'm a little superstitious). But here's the thing, I got into writing this post, bitching for two paragraphs about how bad it is, and discovered something... on a personal level, we had more high points than low points, if you look at it from a certain perspective. So, I deleted all that shit and am trying something else.
This year has had a few good spots. We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in February, I took a very short but rewarding business trip in March, we went to GenCon Online in July, and we got new furniture in October. We had a roof over our heads, good food to eat, and neither of us have gotten COVID, even though Matt has to work outside the house in an environment where a lot of people have turned up COVID+.
More than that, we've been able to afford to be vegan (that shit ain't cheap) and I've been blessed to be able to take up a new, fairly expensive hobby (diamond painting). We're both healthy and, stressed, but happy. Our political candidate won, thank the good lord, and we're personally ending the year no worse for the wear than when it began... mostly.
This year did start with both of us being turned down for promotions at our respective work-places that we interviewed for in the same week. So, we're both doing the same damn jobs we were when this dumpster fire of a year started, but at least we still have jobs. We're making good money and can afford to meet our needs. We have insurance and a 401k, or two. We're sort of just stuck right now, but we're grateful to have jobs to be stuck in and complain about when so many others don't. After I wrote this, some things happened with my job that caused me to quit. So, we're not both employed anymore, but we are fortunate that Matt has a good job that supports our needs, even if it's a bit tighter than it was a week ago. More about this later, because the reason I quit that job is really long winded.
The only thing I can say about this shit year that has absolutely no silver lining for us on a personal level was that we lost our sweet baby, Chewbi, in August. The pain from losing him has been real and, 4 months later, I'm still trying to cope. That dog was seriously my soulmate (don't tell Matt). And, we're probably going to have to put Ani down in the coming year, so that fucking sucks.
Everything else has been okay for us. As the world goes to shit, we're doing alright. We're sympathetic and filled with anxiety about the state of the world, but we're surviving and even doing alright. But, looking back on my NYE post from last year, I didn't accomplish even a single one of my new years resolutions. So this year, I'm not going to set any resolutions...other than just to make it through another year without more failures than successes.
