My Worst Year Ever: Looking Forward To 2013

Unless a bunch of Negative Nellies get in on the year-"13"-being-unlucky craze.  That just might push me over the edge of sanity...

The year started and nothing seemed to go right.  Couldn't stick to my diet and gained twenty more pounds.  Got into a huge row with my husband and smoked two cigarettes after quitting for years.  The guilt made me nuts as well as the cravings for months afterward.

Not to mention what my marriage went through for those months.

The doctor diagnosed me with a heart problem in April.  Along with a thyroid issue and confirming full-blown menopause.  I can't take hormones because I'm allergic to estrogen, which occurred during my last pregnancy and led to my hysterectomy.  Also adding about a gazillion more pills to my morning buffet of medications.

May:  A freak hail storm dropped racquetball sized hail in our subdivision only, destroying my car (blew off the side mirrors and not one panel left undamaged) the day after I paid it off. We needed a new roof and all the gardens were destroyed.

My Butler, that I've had since he was a kitten, got sick.  It took a trip to the emergency room, followed by surgery, followed by another trip to the emergency room, followed by his funeral to resolve his issues.  I can't express how hard that one was on me, I have never had a connection to anyone or anything like I did him and I took it harder than most.  Not to mention in cleaned out our savings, but he was family and we had no choice.  He would have been sixteen November 1st.

I went into the ER with some weird staph infection that had boils popping out on my face and neck.

My car was repaired after forty days and ready to be picked up the day after my cat was put down.  I left it for three days.

My mom fell and broke her leg which was a crazy tale and I felt bad (I'm an only child), but my dad was with her so I didn't worry.  The next day, my dad fell and broke his hip.  That had me frantically cooking/freezing meals for my family so I could go take care of them.

They have a farm so I was up every two hours all night administering medications, emptying bedpans, then breakfast at seven, work on the farm until eleven, make lunch, work more, make dinner, get some house cleaning and laundry done in between and I think I ended up with two hours sleep a day.  For thirty seven days.

I shot (get over it PETA) six poisonous snakes around their house, weed-whacked one, found two mice floating in the toilet, and there were two snakes mating under the sofa.  INSIDE THE HOUSE!!  A seven foot and eight foot (FEET) rat snakes.  Thank you, 9-1-1!  I didn't sleep at all, or even turn off the lights the rest of the remaining weeks.

When my parents were back on their feet well enough, I came home, 800 miles away, to pick up the mess I knew awaited me here.

The morning after getting back, I burned down my kitchen.  Burned.  It.  Down.  First time I've ever set my house on fire and it was, to say the least, upsetting.

My husband deployed in July (yes it's only July) and I went to my doctor where he immediately put me on antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, and meds to help me sleep.  While telling me he's never had a patient with so much go wrong in so short a time.

Something my husband invested our build-our-retirement-home savings tanked (yes, dear, still complaining about it) and we are left penniless. Then my usual fall-winter job fell through, along with his, and we haven't had any money or been able to catch a breath.

Against everyone's wishes in this house, I adopted another cat.  He had been abused and shot and terrorized then put on death row and lived in a cage most of his life...  although we didn't know when I signed the papers for him, he needed surgery to repair the damage that had been done to him by the hands of someone I'd like to abuse and shoot and terrorize.

Then my oldest started driver's education after getting clearance final from his neurologist, but classes started at six thirty in the morning so my day started even earlier than usual for six weeks.  Throw in it's graduation stuff time, like class rings, etc. and I was just about to throw in the towel.

Then.  Well, then, I fell and broke off my front tooth below the gum line.  My front tooth.  They did a temporary fix just to fill the hole, but it will need extensive treatments, that are going to take months, include words like extrusion and orthodontics, and will cost me the low-low price (that's sarcasm) of $2200.  Six weeks before Christmas....

All in all, I can say I've cried out my stress more this year than any other and I've still got some time left before the calendar changes.

Some days I'm not sure how I can still laugh and carry on with the kids, sing, dance, and act silly.  I can tell you that when the lights go off, I stare into the dark for hours and sometimes the tears do silently flow.

The good news is since my mouth is still only temporarily fixed I can't eat anything I have to bite or chew so maybe I'll lose those twenty pounds.  Of course, I can still suck on a cookie and milkshakes work, too, so maybe not.

Thank you Hallmark for bringing the Christmas, make-you-feel-good movies early.

Thank you moronic neighbors for putting up your Christmas crap two weeks before Thanksgiving and giving me something to focus my anger on.

And lastly, thank you Brady (our new kitten that will turn one December 3rd) for coming into my life and bringing me the only joy I've had all year.