From http://steinermp.wordpress.com/
It's 8:15 p.m. Dec. 31, 2009. I have just been beaten in Scrabble -- again -- by my mother, who does the Sudoku puzzle every day and has a mind like a steel trap. This I know is true. She is smarter than anyone else I know, maybe even smarter than my dad. He couldn't -- or maybe wouldn't -- balance the checkbook, but could dissect a cat with his eyes blindfolded.
It occurred to me that while my brain is not so perky by this time of day, I could cobble together a sort of blog of random thoughts from the year that we're about to put behind us.
Good riddance, 2009. You were a year that started out with a crack (actually two of them, thank you very much) in my sacrum, an unfixable tear in my RC, a huge blow to my mental stability, and dang near blew up my 30-year-and-not-ready-to-stop running fix.
But thanks to a husband who just won't give up on me, a mom who makes me mashed potatoes five days in a row because it's the only thing I can eat, two daughters who took their turns watching stupid comedy episodes with me, trimming my nails, and walking me and my walker around the block, brothers and sisters-in-law who spent hours listening to me cry on the phone, my beloved Mary who dropped whatever she was doing when Fred called her and then promised me that I WOULD run again, coworkers who picked up the slack, all those relatives and friends who brought food, sent cards, visited but never told me how horribly awful I looked, I survived. And came through stronger.
Oh yes, you were not such a happy year, 2009. You dealt us a few nasty blows, but we came out okay. Did you really think you'd gotten the best of us? Take that, 2009.
You were, of course, not a completely bad year. We got to see the first African-American inaugurated as president of the USA. We got to see idiots like Madoff stopped in their tracks.
We got to watch our oldest daughter graduate with a master's degree and watched her enter her first year of PhD studies. We got to have most of our family members and many friends together for a wonderful wedding in our back yard, an event that gave us a son-in-law who makes the best sushi we've ever had. You gave us a cute little Schnauzer who -- even as we speculate on these random thoughts -- is happily sacked out on the couch, snoring quietly and looking like the angelic little guy he -- usually -- is.
Oh 2009, you were one heck of a year. You let me reconnect with my beloved cousin, Claire, who I hadn't seen in almost 20 years, and let me spend an afternoon with my best junior high/high school friend/cousin, Kathy, who I hadn't seen in oh so long. You gave me Facebook, which gives me more pleasure than you can imagine. All those old friends...and yes, we're getting older, but then, who doesn't? You gave me a 35th -- ulp -- class reunion that turned out to be so much more fun that I ever expected.
And now, 2009, in just three hours, we get to say sayonara to you, and welcome in a new year. But since I no longer can stay awake beyond 10:30 p.m., I'll say goodbye now. I'm going to hoist my goblet of white wine and toast 2010 because it sure as heck is gonna be a lot better than you. Has to be.
