Goodbye 2018 !!
Is it terribly odd that I'm struggling with what to write about this year? Normally this post is a breeze and I quite enjoy it, yet somehow I don't know what to say about 2018...
For starters, the Lord really blessed us this year. We celebrated our first wedding anniversary. We bought our first house. We adopted/rescued Tora, Charlie, Suki and Mama. We began to pay off some debt. I left Starbucks and started working as a caregiver-my first new job in five years! I got to go see my family in August. I took some time to figure myself out-a work in progress, honestly. I'm sure there are tons more things I can't think of right now, too. But it's been a bit of a challenging year also. Jake's been really struggling with pain and difficulties with his job. Plus we are working opposite schedules so we don't see much of each other during the week. We've been dealing with behavioral issues between the pups. In August I found out I was going to be an aunt and then Jesus took her home. Someone blew out the back glass of our Cadillac and our coverage only covers the front window. Ollie destroyed a good majority of our bathroom. We dealt with many difficulties with a few churches and stopped going for a while. I'm sure there are a few more struggles, too, but when I compare, the bad doesn't seem so bad. We always had a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, jobs, and our little family. What more do we need, really?
I've been contemplating quite a bit what the biggest thing was that I learned in 2018. Overall this year I think the biggest lesson is that life is short and should be celebrated. I've learned this for a few reasons, all from the latter part of the year. I think the thing that really set it off was Aria's passing. I only got to celebrate her little lie for a few days, but man, was she celebrated! My favorite memory of that time (other than being surprised by her announcement) was on the way back to the airport. I put my hand on my sister's tummy, and sang to her "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins and "Hush-a-Bye Mountain" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That was a moment I will cherish for the rest of my life. A week later I got my butterfly tattoo; my personal commemoration of her life. I chose a butterfly for a few reasons. One, they are one of God's most beautiful and delicate creations. Often their wings are transparent, yet so vibrant in color. And their lives are very short. The average lifespan of a butterfly is ten days. But man are they celebrated and admired while they're alive. Same with my little Aria Grace. Every time I see a butterfly now, whether real or on my wrist, I'm reminded of my little niece and the huge importance of celebrating life. (For a while, after she passed, we had this buttery, yellow butterfly that hung out by our front porch. It was like Jesus reminding me she was okay and she was well loved and taken care of. I like to picture her, Faith and Capri running around playing dolls and having tea parties with Jesus joining in, and some of the angels playing dress up with them--those little plastic high heels and pink boas.)
Another reason I've learned this lesson this year is because of my residents. In the three months I've been at my new job we have lost 8 people and a few don't have much longer on this earth. Now they've all lived full and amazing lives, but the one thing they consistently tell me is that it goes too fast. Even at this stage, we've been learning to celebrate the big and small things like silly hats worn to dancing parties, hot chocolate and stuffed puppy dogs, singing silly songs and holding hands in final days. We throw 79th birthday bashes. We eat too much cake and drink too much coffee. We laugh and we cry and we keep pushing on because life's too short to do anything else.
I hope you can look back on this year with the ability to see the good and every intention to celebrate even more next year.
In loving memory of my resident and dear friend Glenn who passed away a few days before Christmas. He was a fascinating guy in his mid-nineties. He loved flannel shirts and black coffee. He was in the military and was a farmer during the dust bowl. He was very chivalrous and wouldn't eat until he was sure everyone else had something. He loved to kiss your hand and say, "Well, howdy!" He asked constantly about his wife and kids and where he was. But my all-time favorite memory of Glenn is when he taught me the chicken song and we sang it every day.
"Way down yonder in the cornfield I thought I heard a chicken sneeze. Just a rooster sayin' it's prayers, biddin' his life to the hens upstairs."
For starters, the Lord really blessed us this year. We celebrated our first wedding anniversary. We bought our first house. We adopted/rescued Tora, Charlie, Suki and Mama. We began to pay off some debt. I left Starbucks and started working as a caregiver-my first new job in five years! I got to go see my family in August. I took some time to figure myself out-a work in progress, honestly. I'm sure there are tons more things I can't think of right now, too. But it's been a bit of a challenging year also. Jake's been really struggling with pain and difficulties with his job. Plus we are working opposite schedules so we don't see much of each other during the week. We've been dealing with behavioral issues between the pups. In August I found out I was going to be an aunt and then Jesus took her home. Someone blew out the back glass of our Cadillac and our coverage only covers the front window. Ollie destroyed a good majority of our bathroom. We dealt with many difficulties with a few churches and stopped going for a while. I'm sure there are a few more struggles, too, but when I compare, the bad doesn't seem so bad. We always had a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, jobs, and our little family. What more do we need, really?
I've been contemplating quite a bit what the biggest thing was that I learned in 2018. Overall this year I think the biggest lesson is that life is short and should be celebrated. I've learned this for a few reasons, all from the latter part of the year. I think the thing that really set it off was Aria's passing. I only got to celebrate her little lie for a few days, but man, was she celebrated! My favorite memory of that time (other than being surprised by her announcement) was on the way back to the airport. I put my hand on my sister's tummy, and sang to her "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins and "Hush-a-Bye Mountain" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That was a moment I will cherish for the rest of my life. A week later I got my butterfly tattoo; my personal commemoration of her life. I chose a butterfly for a few reasons. One, they are one of God's most beautiful and delicate creations. Often their wings are transparent, yet so vibrant in color. And their lives are very short. The average lifespan of a butterfly is ten days. But man are they celebrated and admired while they're alive. Same with my little Aria Grace. Every time I see a butterfly now, whether real or on my wrist, I'm reminded of my little niece and the huge importance of celebrating life. (For a while, after she passed, we had this buttery, yellow butterfly that hung out by our front porch. It was like Jesus reminding me she was okay and she was well loved and taken care of. I like to picture her, Faith and Capri running around playing dolls and having tea parties with Jesus joining in, and some of the angels playing dress up with them--those little plastic high heels and pink boas.)
Another reason I've learned this lesson this year is because of my residents. In the three months I've been at my new job we have lost 8 people and a few don't have much longer on this earth. Now they've all lived full and amazing lives, but the one thing they consistently tell me is that it goes too fast. Even at this stage, we've been learning to celebrate the big and small things like silly hats worn to dancing parties, hot chocolate and stuffed puppy dogs, singing silly songs and holding hands in final days. We throw 79th birthday bashes. We eat too much cake and drink too much coffee. We laugh and we cry and we keep pushing on because life's too short to do anything else.
I hope you can look back on this year with the ability to see the good and every intention to celebrate even more next year.
In loving memory of my resident and dear friend Glenn who passed away a few days before Christmas. He was a fascinating guy in his mid-nineties. He loved flannel shirts and black coffee. He was in the military and was a farmer during the dust bowl. He was very chivalrous and wouldn't eat until he was sure everyone else had something. He loved to kiss your hand and say, "Well, howdy!" He asked constantly about his wife and kids and where he was. But my all-time favorite memory of Glenn is when he taught me the chicken song and we sang it every day.
"Way down yonder in the cornfield I thought I heard a chicken sneeze. Just a rooster sayin' it's prayers, biddin' his life to the hens upstairs."
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