A look back on 2014

2014 has been an interesting year for me. 

We had the coldest winter we've had in the Mid-Atlantic region for quite some time.  While our pipes never froze, our wood stove got a work out that it hasn't gotten in quite some time!

The Common Room at the Women's Retreat

The girls in my Girl Scout Troop all earned their Gold Awards.  (Girl Scouting's highest award)

I received an award for excellence in volunteerism and leadership.

The women of our church got away for a weekend and went on a retreat together - without our families or our husbands.

We visited a lot, and I mean A LOT of colleges with daughter!  I enjoyed every single school we visited.  The kind of funny thing is that when I was looking at colleges, I was told I had to remain in state.  So, I did.  Many years later, we are letting daughter look wherever she wants at colleges.  We have looked at schools up and down the East Coast.  Ironically, her final choices are in-state schools. 

I spent a day in February lobbying in Annapolis for legislation that would impact the victims of domestic violence.  While I'm glad that domestic violence is now in the national spotlight, I am saddened by the fact that the reason it came to the forefront was the very well publicized incident between Ray Rice and his wife.

I began a new job.  Since 2009, I had been substitute teaching.  I am a certified teacher, and I'd had hopes of being hired back as a classroom teacher.  After 5 years of substituting, I finally admitted to myself that I was not going to be hired.  I had finished my MLS in 2013, with the goal of being hired as a school library media specialist.  In January, I began putting my application out to libraries throughout Maryland.  In April, I began a job - as a librarian- in an academic library.  Not quite the path I had planned on taking, perhaps a less traveled path than the one I had planned on, but I am enjoying the job and the work!  It's a challenging place to work, and I definitely use my brain every single day I'm there!

This summer saw a unique opportunity for my daughter and I to spend some quality time together.  She is taking AP 2D art this year, and her concentration is photography. She had a long list of pictures that she needed to take before she went back to school in the fall. 

We traveled all over Maryland and Virginia, taking pictures and seeing the sites that we normally ignore.  I don't know that we'll ever have another opportunity like this one again, so I enjoyed every single moment of the time that we spent together.

Husband replaced the ceramic tile floor in our hallway with laminate.  He pulled out the huge, overgrown bushes in our front yard, and he diligently worked at cutting down all of the trees and branches that fell down under the weight of the snow last winter.  We ended up with a cord of wood.  Unfortunately, it's going to have to season, so we won't actually be able to burn it until next year.

There were some pretty horrible things that happened this year. 

My son's friend, Patrick, died at the age of 19 in an accident.  So full of promise, so full of life.  The pain that his family has gone through this holiday season has broken my heart.  You can talk to them all you want, and you can be there for them, but in the end, they've lost a child, and there's nothing that is going to make that better.  That hole is going to be there forever.



My mother had a brush with death.  Her colon ruptured - not once, but twice.  She had a massive tumor, just above her rectum.  The doctors put in a stoma.  (A place where the waste leaves the body.  It's on her stomach.)  The stoma failed (it rotted, and turned black - gangrene) and had to be replaced.  A battle with pneumonia, and one with c-diff, and another one with congestive heart failure made her stay in the hospital a constant adventure.  8 weeks later, she came home.  She's very weak, but we all feel that she is better off at home than in the hospital.  No new germs to be exposed to, and she's sleeping better in her own bed than she was in the hospital.  Thankfully, her insurance covers a nurse to come in and check on her several times a week.

GET A COLONOSCOPY!!!  All of this could have been avoided with a colonoscopy....  the tumor would still have been there, but it's possible it could have been caught when it was still a polyp, and if it had progressed to the tumor stage, the surgeries could have been handled laproscopically.

Oldest son had a friend named Shannon who died last week at the age of 23 from the flu.  She was a nurse, and engaged to be married this summer.  Another tragic loss.  The funeral is this afternoon.  Another young life, full of promise, gone.

Such is life.  Full of ups and downs.  Great joys and great sorrows.  Being able to share it somewhere has been a joy.  Knowing that there are people out there who find the time to come back and read what I write gives me great joy.  You'll never know what it means to me.  Thank you for journeying through this past year with me.

Hug your children tight.  Hug your parents tight.  Let the ones you love know you love them.  Tell them frequently and often.  Enjoy the moments and opportunities you have together. 

Best wishes to us all for a prosperous, happy, and joyous new year!