January 10, 2022 ~ Monday (late afternoon/the sky is periwinkle/terminal twilight)
And so it begins … Happy New Year! I say it every year … well, yes, we all do … but this year, I really mean it. As in REALLY mean it. I hope this is a good and happy NEW year.
I was so done with 2021. I kept saying that everything wasn’t bothering me … the political strife/upset … the weather – extreme as it was … the global pandemic and it’s variations … the abnormality of life in general. But, with the onset of the new year – I became acutely aware that yeah … I was bothered. As in a LOT. Basically, I was finished with it all. Someone put a fork in me – I’m done!
So, the new year was a goal to get to … I couldn’t wait. But, so far (as in the first 10 days) this year has been a continuation of last year’s (and 2020’s) … for lack of a better word … garbage. Even if I say it with a French twist … gar-baaj … it sounds nicer but really doesn’t make it any better. I think that since those years had so much sh*t going on – there has been an overflow of excess crap into this year. I’m giving it through the weekend to finalize the spillage. And then I will be saying Happy New Year – anew! Hopefully the Hazmat teams can go home!
I’m vaxed and boosted/wear double masks so it looks like I’m performing surgery/keep my distance/wash my hands and sanitize to the hilt/etcetera … etcetera … etcetera … as I’ve been doing for nearly 2 years now. However, I’m still wary. I have a feeling we’ll all get the variant at some time or another … but honestly, I don’t want this virus! I have been a textbook case 3x in my life and I am always the one that doctors look at and shake their heads and say they’d never seen such and such before in person – only in text. I don’t want a baby arm to grow out of my neck from a side effect of the Omicron or future variant … cuz I know I’d be the one! Those doctors would all be looking at me, shaking their heads and muttering that they’d never seen this before!
It took me four extra days, nine delayed or canceled flights, missing the shuttle, a night in the airport, a delayed ferry, and slip-sliding along icy and snow-packed island roads (we got 9″!) to get from Denver to my home after Christmas. I’m a little leery of traveling again any time soon. And with the virus ramping up – again – I don’t really want to but my mom is 93 (this weekend) and I’m just feeling like I need to. So, I will … but I might look more like the mummy in transit than a surgeon.
Last week I was at the grocery store and caught myself telling the cashier that I couldn’t hear her because of my mask. I realized how stupid that sounded as the mask wasn’t over my ears obstructing my hearing. It’s just how this body works.
I remember when I used to wear glasses (thank you cataract surgery) … if you wanted me to hear something, I had to make sure I had my glasses on. Isn’t the impairment of one sense supposed to keen the others? Not so with me! So, if I should see you out somewhere or in the airport and I don’t respond – it’s not personal – it’s because I have two masks on and I didn’t hear you!
It’s been a weird month. I have to rehome Annie, my lab, as she’s showing aggression to other dogs. She needs to be a one and only and I’m heartbroken over it. She is so lovely (with humans) … my big baby walrus. I’ve cried a lot over this dog. Bea, is good, but had a massive seizure the other night … not totally unexpected as she’s about 300 in human years! She is ancient but still tootling around – my little hedgehog dog. And, there has been a mass exodus from the island amongst my friends. My good friend and his sweet golden moved to Southern CA … other dog parents/friends relocated to Bend … another couple and their pup just transferred to Tucson and another couple just bought a house in NH. All good friends. All I can say is, it was my idea first! No fair! I’m hoping my time will come sooner than later.
It rained again today (why am I not surprised?) … welcome to January/winter in the NW. But, at least the snow is gone. No one owns a shovel up here – so, a dustpan does the job … but with a lot more bending over! We’ve been getting (so they say) lighter for a month now – our solstice arrives around the 12th of December and then we start adding on a minute of (so called) daylight every day. So, by the New Year – we were some 15 minutes lighter than the darkest day. And here we are almost two weeks in, with more minutes adding daily to our total hours of daylight and I’m still feeling like I am living in a cave. Terminal twilight. Gray/gloomy/wet and darkness clearing by morning (well, LATE morning). But, it’s green. If it weren’t for that snow – I’d still have flowers blooming! Crazy. It’s a far cry from warmer, so brown and dry CO.
So, with the turning of the calendar page to January … what do I wish for in this new year?
I always have the expected staples … love, laughter, good health, good friends, financial stability, and fulfillment for everyone I know. But, honestly, that is what I wish for.
But, I also wish for solace for this country. I wish for truth and regard; for respect and integrity. Somewhere along the way those values have been lost (by too many). I wish for honesty, openness and compromise. I wish for the Golden Rule … for if people were to treat others how they’d like to be treated – I truly believe that so much would be different/better.
I also wish instead of people spending zillions (actually, upward of $450,000 per person) to have a seat into space – they’d donate those funds so local children have enough to eat … that teachers earn an above living wage … that they’d donate elsewhere rather than for personal folly. I wish that those whose bodies are frail and feeble and aging are eased of their pain and that they find comfort from their loneliness. And I wish people would wake up and realize we are all in this together … and that things are not going too well … and that unity is healing.
I’m also wishing that Mom Nature backs off a bit … that people come to terms with climate issues … that this pandemic abates and normalcy (whatever that is anymore) will be normal once again.
And, of course, drawing on the inner untitled beauty queen in me … I wish for world peace.
And so it begins …