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Farewell 2008

It's New Year's Eve. I'm sipping a lovely Willamette Valley Syrah and watching television. On my laptop, I'm chatting with a dear friend and playing a game of Wordscraper, which was Scrabulous, which now is Lexulous. I don't give a damn what it's called. I just want to play a game or two with friends and loved ones.

So here's a little recap....

Last New Year's Eve, I was home alone, sipping wine watching Fred and Ginger dance across the screen. I was rather hoping Turner Classics would do that again, but they didn't. In the first few weeks of 2008, several friends lost a parent. It was almost an epidemic.

I wanted to go visit my dear friends George and Nancy for the Oscar's, but I broke a tooth and my savings went into that. Nancy was one of the friends who had lost a parent, her father. I really wanted to be with her. She was so exhausted from the whole experience. But I wasn't alone for Oscar. I chatted with my daughter, with Nancy and with my friend Bert. Aren't computers a wonderful thing?

No visits to the hospital this year, but a few medical disruptions. I spent Memorial Day weekend with a scratched eye which became infected and took ages to heal. Now I have to wear my glasses all the time and forgo the contacts. I miss my contacts. But I'm looking forward to getting new glasses now that a new insurance year has come around.

Even though I missed Oscar's with Nancy and George, I did get to spend a weekend with them in July. We met up in Eugene and drove to Crater Lake. I grew up near Crater Lake and hadn't been there for nearly 35 years. It was a lovely weekend with my dearest friends.

I also took a mini break for my birthday and went to the coast. Finally got to enjoy the wonderful Sylvia Beach hotel - the Shakespeare room. Paired with a lovely dinner and perfect company, the day was warm and wonderful and memorable.

Then I capped the year with a wonderful week in Boston with my lovely daughter. It was a real adventure and one that I'm actually writing a story about. Keep an eye out for that one.

No weddings. A few new babies. My friend Janet became a grandmother on Feb. 15. Her granddaughter has become a light in her life. My sister was blessed with her 9th grandchild. I got to spend Thanksgiving with her entire family! What a day that was...lots of love and lots of joy.

Deaths...some celebrity passings that moved me - George Carlin, Paul Newman, Harold Pinter. Miraculously my mother and aunt are still here. Mom's nearly 91 and Aunt Gertie will be 99 tomorrow!! Good Lord!! But my niece Sarah passed in March. She was a month shy of her 26th birthday. I'm still rather stunned by it.

I went to far fewer concerts, movies and plays than usual. Partly money - partly lack of someone to share the experience with. I do like having someone to talk to about these things. And the fact that I go alone now seems to magnify my aloneness. I did go to see a road show of Sweeney Todd with my friends Mike and Mary. That was a lovely night. And I saw the Wallin' Jennys with my dear Bert. That was great as well.

I haven't moved, but my neighbors have. I have new ones across the hall and down below. The girls across the hall are college students and remarkably quiet. Pretty with lots of friends who drop by, they remind me of my daughter. It makes me miss her - miss watching her life grow richer and fuller with every day. The woman downstairs is one of the most annoying, narcissistic, unaware people I've ever encountered. But I think she's a resident or something at the hospital. She's rarely home and wears surgical scrubs a lot.

So what am I hoping the new year will bring. I should like to feel healthier. I am making small changes that I hope will have made a significant difference in a year. If only I can be patient enough with myself to stay the course.

I hope my daughter continues to grow in happiness and knowledge and success. I hope to rebuild some relationships that have grown distant over time.

I hope to continue to grow kinder with myself. To forgive myself more often and enjoy myself each day.

I want to continue to explore my creativity, expand my support group, and actually write those stories rolling around in my head.

I want to see the year through with love and kindness and grace and compassion. Can't think of anything else. Except for the Italian villa, the Boston condo, the perfect job and loads of money to be philanthropic with.

Happy 2009 Everyone. HOPE and CHANGE are just around the corner.

Comments

Hope and Change and only good things are in your future. Happy New Year :)
Sara Moriarty said…
I'm with Erika... The Universe is smiling at you because you're only seeing the tip of the iceberg of wonderful things that you'll be showered with in 2009. I'm glad to be a part of it, in some small way...
Anonymous said…
2008 will always be a memorable year for me because it is the year that I met you.

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