A few years ago, I really enjoyed blogging. And then I just…fell off the boat. So many things have happened since then.
Our beloved dog, Hannah, had to be put to sleep. My sweet grand baby, Kole, moved clear across the country with my oldest son and daughter-in-law/best friend. My middle son and his girlfriend – also the mother of my two granddaughters – split up, and he became a full time busker and van dweller, traveling all over the country with a little Chihuahua named “Killer”. My youngest son graduated from college and proposed to his lovely best friend. A few billion visits to Pinterest later, there was a gorgeous wedding in downtown Wilmington, complete with all of our family and friends, and they now both live and work in Wilmington. My step daughter graduated from high school, started college, failed to discuss any of the financing with my husband until after the fact, resulting in a painful and on-going rift.
Last year, my father, “Pa Bill” died after a two year battle with lung cancer. My Aunt JoAnn, dad’s sister, succumbed to bladder cancer. And my father-in-law, the indomitable Pete Ebert, gave up a lifelong fight against mental illness and the accompanying debilitating effects of long term lithium use.
My mother and her husband moved into my neighborhood, in fact, two doors down. My mother-in-law has been in and out of the hospital several times with a mysterious malady that comes and goes. My Uncle’s wife of 30 years up and left him high and dry and he relocated from sunny Florida, where he had moved to retire, to – tada! – my neighborhood. My stepfather, a.k.a. “Sweet Old Bob”, had heart surgery and survived against insurmountable odds.
We decided that our lives were way too lonely without a furry friend, so we found another Rottweiler breeder and bought a new puppy. This one has got her paws firmly attached to our hearts. Her name is Hattie, which means protector of the home in German, named after my great grandmother. Shortly after we brought her home, our 20 year old cat, Pixie, went to sleep for the last time.
Owning Hattie has been an adventure all unto itself. Her father is a schutzhund champion, so her high energy level has happily resulted in us making many new friends. We have an adorable couple who walk her for us on a regular basis and she goes to “Doggie Day Care”, where she has her own following and we get to share her glory with some wonderful ladies. Puppy training classes for her were a must, and we met one of the best, not to mention most entertaining dog trainers on the planet.
Several road trips in the corvette have happened. We have been to Key West to party with our best friends, Dunkirk Maryland to visit those friends, the Outer Banks, St. Augustine… several times…loved it!…, Savannah, Myrtle Beach and Asheville to play a final round of golf with my Dad. We flew out to Seattle to visit our grandson and got to experience a whole different part of the country – not to mention our first long flight together. We discovered the beautiful mountains of Georgia and rented a few log cabins up there for a few – much needed – scenic getaways. We think we have discovered the place we want to call home when we are, someday, able to retire.
We bought mountain bikes and have started to introduce our old bodies to a new sport. And yes, I have taken a few rough tumbles. We traded our 15 year old SUV in for a big four wheel drive truck, so we can take Hattie camping on the beach this summer.
Some things have not changed. My husband and I still work the rotating shifts at our job and live for our seven day breaks. We are still best friends and count every day together as a blessing. We still love to take millions of photos with our dueling cameras and bore all our family members with them. We still spend every day that its warm enough on Wrightsville Beach with a couple of Bloody Marys in our hands and our toes in the sand. Our bond of friendship with our “forever friends”,who we met through an online forum for step parents, has deepened and we hope that we all get to live closer one day.
I have made a few New Year’s resolutions and one of the top ones is to resume blogging. So, although this post is a tedious update and a conglomerate amount of stuff, I hope some of my old readers will re-connect with me and that I will connect with lots of new readers and friends in 2015!
Happy New Year, Y’all!