Don't Call It A Comeback

Happy New Year! It's been a while, hasn't it? I won't bore you with the details but suffice it to say it involved a magic lamp, an alien invasion, and a whole lot of peach salsa. One of my resolutions was to get back to writing on the regular as it brings peace, clarity, and a kind of joy. Well, before the innerwebs tears it apart but bravely go on we must.

I had fallen into a deep melancholy the first half of the year - was unable to find energy or joy as my job sucked at all right out. Happiness and fulfillment from where you spend the majority of your waking hours is not too much to ask, right? Apparently not. Looking for validation and fulfillment from work only served to drag me down, make me desperately unhappy and so I stopped writing. Stopped doing a lot of stuff. Just didn't care because what did it matter? Had only to make it through the next day, gritting my teeth. Only 30 more years of this; I can make it. That's no way to live.

I still don't know what happened but it was the equivalent to a cosmic slap upside the head - sometimes a job is just a job. A means to an end. Personal happiness and fulfillment from it aren't required. And so I smiled more and laughed more and know what happened? The job got easier, the drudgery lessened and once I stopped expecting it to give me everything I wanted, it met me halfway and gave me what I needed: a paycheck and a sense of pride in what I do.

So, new year. New opportunities. Some things ending like Noah will be starting Kindergarten in the fall, on his 5th birthday to be exact. We had considered having him do another year of preschool as he will be the youngest in his class but once his pre-K class started on sight words and reading, there's no way to hold him back. He soaks it up like a sponge and is eager for more. It will be strange, leaving the daycare then preschool we've been with for seven years, since Noelle was a baby but any teary-eyed nostalgia is more than tempered by the thought of all the money in tuition we get back by not having to pay it anymore! We'll soldier on somehow.

Beyond that, my family is having a huge family reunion this summer, we are making progress on fixing up the house, clearing the basement and organizing the back room. Everyone is in big kid beds now and Dylan has a shiny new display case for his collectible figures. I took back care of my health last year and this year is my year to take it to the next level by actually wearing the $3600 hearing aids I paid for as my insurance covered exactly 0% of it.

But biggest and best of all, I had made a renewed commitment to writing and Friday afternoon, was offered the opportunity to recap Being Human for the website Paranormal Popculture. To say that I'm excited might be understating it by just a bit. Interesting, you get your head in order and things just seem to fall into place.

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to make 2014 my bitch.