Since this will be my last blog entry until 2019, I am sitting here co-writing with my other half. I know my readers always enjoy his contributions, and I couldn’t think of a better way to end the year here, especially since we just reached a big milestone in our life together.
On December 15th, we celebrated 24 years together…not married but together. For some reason, we’ve always found this anniversary more important to us than our wedding anniversary, primarily because of our long history prior to beginning our relationship. All those years ago we never could have imagined where this life would take us, in both good and bad directions. Don’t get us wrong, there has been much more good than bad over the last two dozen years, but when you’re faced with both MS and breast cancer diagnoses along the way it can sometimes seem like you’ve been dealt a bad hand. Thankfully, 2018 has been a much better trip around the sun than 2017 was, and for so many reasons.
Why was 2018 such an improvement over 2017? Mainly because of how quiet and uneventful it’s been. Some people might call an uneventful life boring, and may even consider it depressing, but when you’re constantly met with major challenges a nice stable, quiet year can be just what you need. At the start of the year, we were already in a much better place than we were twelve months prior. January 2017 may have been one of the most difficult months we’ve ever endured. We started the year having just gotten word of Rennie’s breast cancer diagnosis, and knowing that during the first few weeks she’d have to undergo surgery, testing, and the long, painful wait for her prognosis and treatment plan. And that was just to start the year. The remainder of the year we were forced to face Rennie’s six weeks of daily radiation treatment, countless oncologist visits, Ren’s fall down the stairs and her resulting broken toes, another fall in our dining room where she dislocated her finger, the death of our beloved dog Marty, and finally another MS relapse for her which forced her to change medications for the first time in almost a decade. Just writing that list out gives us both the shakes.
By contrast, 2018 has (so far…knock on wood) been a breeze. The gratitude we both have for a stable and quiet year can’t accurately be measured. It may not seem all that exciting to most people, but a year in which we were able to return to Vermont for another memorable vacation, travel to the Florida Keys with Ren’s family to celebrate Thanksgiving, adopt the newest furry member of our family (Squiggy), and have Rennie strong enough physically and mentally to begin yoga teacher training is music to our ears. And we’re both thrilled that we can spend most of our free time on weekends together, with nothing too important or earth-shattering to contemplate.
As you’ll notice, this year-in-review post is a short one. And that’s a good thing. But we’d both like to take this time to wish all of the loyal readers of this blog a peaceful holiday season, and a happy & healthy new year. As usual, Rennie will be taking the next few weeks off to be fully present with family & friends, and will return here with new entries starting on January 8th. Same bat-time, same bat-channel.
