Two thousand thirteen sucked goat balls, as a friend of mine would say. Actually, I think she’d say licked goat taint. Either way, 2013 totally did it. In the Quirkyverse, we had a family death; friends diagnosed with serious illnesses; friends and family hospitalized for weeks on end; intensive potty training; anxiety medication; insensitivity and guilt trips. It’s been a roller-coaster of emotion, most of it the plummeting kind. So, yeah, I’m ready for 2014.
I may make references to 2013 events in future posts, but I don’t envision talking about it much. Except to say this: If you’re female and experiencing issues you believe are related to your menstrual cycle, but your gynecologist tells you there’s nothing wrong, go see a different kind of doctor. I’m not talking about a second gyn opinion; your current gyn may be right about your gynecological system being in fine working order, but there are other organs in the abdominal area to consider. Stomach, intestines, colon, liver, kidneys to name a few. Go see a gastrointerologist. I don’t care how old you are. You could be 33 and have just run a marathon last week. Don’t. Care. Go see a GI specialist. At the very least, bring up other possibilities with your gynecologist or primary care physician and be prepared to challenge them if they blow you off. Because, no matter your age or general health, what your doctors assume is a burst ovarian cyst could turn out to be a ruptured colon due to colon cancer. I’m not trying to scare you or turn you into a hypochondriac, but this does happen. In real life. Okay, /PSA.
So, putting aside my loathing of 2013, tell me something good that happened to you this year. I discovered something pivotal about myself. It’s changing my world view and I plan to spend 2014 blogging about it. My good friend, Ainsley Brooks, will be here in the next week or so to tell you about how she turned a setback into something utterly fabulous: a book.
How about you? What wonders befell you in 2013?
This year despite all that went wrong (which was plentiful), I discovered that there are some truly wonderful people in my life such as yourself. You are awesome no matter what people may insinuate or say and that includes the voice in your head. Someone posted an idea on Facebook which I’m considering doing this year. The idea is to fill a jar with good things that happen throughout the year to read on next New Year’s Eve. I sure could have used that this year. I’m sure good things happened that I’ve forgotten due to the overload of bad since August. Let’s hope we all have more to celebrate next year!
That is a great idea. The good things do tend to get lost in the shadow of big bad things. One of my favorite things from 2013 was our boys sharing some of their…style. Like BamBam adopting your son’s approach to singing. It’s so fun to watch him and think, “I know exactly where he got that and it’s awesome!”
What I learned this year is if you smile at a stranger, you usually get a smile back. I must have smiled at someone while doing grocery shopping one day and they stopped me and said they were in a grumpy mood but when I smiled at them, their mood changed. She stopped me to say thank you. I also say thank you as much as I can. I am hearing more thank you’s in my classroom. It is amazing what 2 words can do and a little muscle movement can do. Michelle, thank you for being my friend. I haven’t seen much of you this past year but I am so glad for Facebook and seeing your posts.
I love that you’re getting that reciprocal feedback, especially in your classroom. Awesome! Thank you for being my friend, too. I’ve missed seeing you and am also glad for Facebook. For all its issues, I appreciate that it lets us see what’s going on with friends we still care about, but don’t get to see in person.
I started going to a dance class in August. It’s been wonderful.
I stage-managed an awesome group of teens in Jan/Feb/Mar. I sometimes miss my rehearsals with them.
I’ve had two delightfully awkward cups of coffee with a mixed media artist whose work I’m obsessed with. I’ve bought four pieces from him.
John and I have had a lot more alone-together time this year. We mostly spend it working on our old house, but it’s still nice.
I love the fact that often my boys will hold hands while sitting in the backseat of the car. They’re like two little otters.
Sounds like you’ve had a great year, Trina! And I love that the boys are still holding hands in the backseat. So sweet!