It looks like 2014 definitely went out with a roar. So many things happened–and happening–that’s it’s almost difficult to rein it all in. Where to start?
Let’s see if I can sum up just the last month of 2014 leading into 2015:
Dorothy, my friend and co-worker for the past 15 years, retired. I will absolutely miss her years of wisdom and teaching. Already, the office feels emptier without here, especially since I’m in the process of moving into her old cubicle. It just seems … strange.
For the past several weeks I’ve been fighting some horrible flu-like illness. I kept telling myself: Just wait until I get the time off at Christmas and New Year’s. Well, it did. And then it hit with a vengeance. Between the exhaustion and stomach-churning diarrhea, I somehow managed to end up with the violent vomits as well. While encountering a bout of the runs, I felt the overwhelming need to vomit. Before I could complete the … ummmm … round trip, I somehow managed to pass out. And reveling in the moment, I ended up on the floor. But not after first ramming my head into the wall (putting a hole in the drywall) and smacking my right cheekbone on the trash can. As if that wasn’t bad enough, two hours later, I did a repeat performance and wound up on the floor, pants down, in a pool of my own vomit. But, hey, this time I didn’t slam the right side of my face into the trash can. No, I slammed the left side of my face into the floor and now have a lump on my left eyebrow, cheekbone, and chin.
Before all of this wonderfulness, I was feeling almost up to eating something. I got in the car and drove to McDonald’s … at 10:00 … PM … on New Year’s Eve. After driving all the way there and coming back home, I pulled into the driveway and attempted to put the car in park … and again … and again. Son of a bitch! The linkage in my car just broke and it is now stuck in park. In the carport. Facing in.
It’s a front wheel drive car.
With my illness, I ended up missing out on both New Year’s celebrations and my niece’s birthday dinner.
Lastly, I–no, WE–found out a few months ago that dad had cancer. Melanoma on the lining of his stomach. Over the last couple of years he’s caught himself on fire, tried to cut his arm off, and suffered countless other uniquely dad injuries. This one, however, was the topper. In just a few short months, he aged 20 years. After suffering through three nearly $200,000 chemo injections and several trips to the hospital, renal failure brought on by the chemo forced him into hospice care … for less than 24 hours.
Two of my brothers (Greg and Jim) were in transit from Los Angeles, and when they landed, received word that Dad had died at 8:04 AM on January 3, 2015. I won’t be able to afford to go back for the funeral, but at least the rest of my brothers and sisters will be there.
Here’s hoping 2015 is better than the end of 2014.
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On the upside, I’ve officially decided to return to school to get my Masters in Communication. I’ve decided on Southern New Hampshire University. I’ll be starting around March.