2013. A Fine Year

Prologue: I wanted to get three things done today. 1) Fix a clock 2) Reset all my passwords 3) Write this post. Of the first two, the clock was the most relaxing, but then a spot of glue seeped in the wrong direction and I must start from scratch. The Great Password Shift was even more stressful and went so poorly that I’ve stopped cold. I did reset the password to this blog, so if you never hear from me again that’s what’s happened. So, after disasters 1 and 2, I bring you 2013 in Review.

The Year in Changes of Life

Well, let’s just start with the biggest change of life right off the bat. I hope it stays changed forever. I refer of course to my basement. My basement is clean, my garage is clean, oh, and my uterus is clean. Perhaps I have found the secret to controlling ones reproductive state: as the basement goes, so goes the womb. All areas are clean, dry, and free of bloody puddles. Long last the Menopause.

Gary had some changes too. Gary’s sudden retirement has gone well so far. He’s taken on some cooking, all the dishes, errand-running, repair schedules, and we share the shopping. I still do the cleaning every few months. He’s still resting. He napped so much today that I told him it was like being married to a man in a coma and left the house.

Our health is on the upswing. In 2012 I had no new lesions, and I hope 2013 was the same. Gary’s back has improved since he finally embraced the physical therapy. He’s so much stronger. Where before a muscle twinge would make him take to his bed for a month, now the same twinge makes him stretch like a yoga master and it’s over in a few minutes. It was a great reversal of long-held attitudes that made him accept that some one could help him. I’m delighted.

It’s just the two of us. I can’t report on the dog’s health because the dog died in January 2013. It’s the first year without a dog since the last century or so. I’d miss having a dog greet me only now I have a husband greet me, and I don’t have to clean up the husband’s bowel movements when I come in.

What we learned: Some problems, such as menses, are cured by patience. Other problems, such as backs, are made worse by patience and must be wrestled to the ground.

The Year in Screaming Fights

It took several screaming weepy fights to convince Gary that a Physical Therapist could help him. Hopefully this has convinced him trained professionals know more than Dr. Google.

Our trip to Nashville and Jacksonville was essentially one long screaming weepy fight interrupted by a concert and a funeral.

What we learned: When we start using a tone, we switch to speaking Henrietta Pussycat. She just showed up in the grocery last night. “Ellen, so WHAT if we already have birthday cards… meow meow birthday cards meow!”

The Year in Trips

Chicago in February
Quebec in June
Nashville and Jacksonville in the fall
New Orleans in December

What we learned: Always bring a flashlight in case the engines fail, the lights won’t come on, or the safe is in the closet.

The Year in Music

We travelled to Nashville to see BNL, unaware they were coming to St. Louis.
We saw Cowboy Mouth in Chicago, unaware they were coming to St Louis.
We saw Boothby Graffoe, Ben Folds, and Guster in Nashville as well, and Sammy Hagar in St Louis.
And I must include the musical The Book of Mormon. It came to Saint Louis a week after I saw it in Chicago, but at least this time I knew it was coming.

What we learned: Traveling to see a band means they’ll reciprocate by coming to see you.

The Year in Strange

We were visited by pestilences when a tornado hit our street, felled two of our trees, and then maggots grew in its wake.

One stranger rear-ended me and another accused me on the phone of cheating with her husband.

We saw Kim and Kanye at a Bob Evans.

I read a Salinger story during its Brigadoon day on the web.

And finally, last night we were at Starbucks (Economizing? What economizing?) when the car in front of us paid for us and the car behind us. Happily, a third car pulled in line that we could pay for. Ha HA foiled your plan, Pay It Forward SUV.

What we learned: You can effect affect change in your life, but sometimes change just hits like Kimye rear-ending you, spinning you like a tornado, and then paying for your coffee.