How is it that 2023 is already at its end? I cannot believe that the year is over in three days. Where did the time go?
It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? In December of 2021, we had the amusing plumbing disaster. Pretty sure we averted disaster last December. Of course, there was the great Christmas tree debacle of a couple of weeks ago, just in case things were getting boring.
There were lots of new experiences in 2023. France by riverboat in April with the fairy godmothers. Met a man in March; by May was fully enthralled and entrenched. Visited Cape May in June. Drove to Montreal in July and came home with a broken knee that needed surgical repair. Summer spent confined indoors on one leg. Labor Day weekend in the Berkshires, complete with Hudson Valley sightseeing, in a brace. All autumn in physical therapy to get ready for hiking in California: Death Valley, Yosemite and Sequoia national parks all in one week! With San Diego and vicinities as bookends of the truly marvelous trip.
Overall, it has been a year of laughter and adventure. Even without the planned European summer vacation, I have traveled more, seen more, done more, experienced more, and laughed more than ever before. This year, I really had to lean on others and not only explicitly ask for help, I had to also accept it. And accept it as it was given, not as I would have liked it. That was a hard lesson. This year, I learned things about myself, my family, and my friends that I wasn’t expecting; not all of it was pleasant. Facing some of those hard truths made for some very uncomfortable situations.
For 2024, I have big plans. Getting back to Europe in the spring, back to Montreal in July to finish the weekend that ended too early, and definitely back to the Berkshires – this time to hike rather than limp. I hope to finally make a dent in the storage of excess belongings that I have been pledging to extricate myself from for the last two years. I hope to enable the remaining children in the household to launch their own lives, for real. There’s so much that needs to be done; I need the inclination to do it. Hoping that 2024 is the year of inclination and action.
The year is over. Or soon will be. Then, we get to embark on another year-long adventure, sure to have ups, downs, and more than one sideways. No more broken bones or surgical interventions, please.
