2019, For Your Review

Can I be that I sit at this same keyboard to tap out a summary of another year? This one sure went fast. A comparatively quiet year that saw no international trips or passings of immediate family members.  But, I did travel to the Northeast several times and saw the death of my wife's uncle, the one we had visited only weeks before in Lawrenceville, GA.   A gentle soul who took great pride in his garden, one that moreso resembled a small park.  A place of solace that I spent hours enjoying in late October.  The above photo showcases one of several bird feeders there.

Uncle Skip, my mother-in-law's brother, sat in the kitchen reading.  I joined him for a bit of conversation but he was not one for too much small talk.  My wife and her aunt had gone to a Bible study.  I enjoyed Skip's company, even when no words were exchanged.  I love his suburban home, the very definition of cozy.  We were on our way to my wife's twentieth college reunion in Greenville, stopping for a few days in the Atlanta area.  None of us knew that it would be the last time we got to spend with Uncle, who suffered mini strokes and cardiac problems that took his life on Dec. 18th.

My wife and MIL drove to Georgia for the funeral.  I was in NJ, enjoying a previously planned visit with my family.  The service was on the 22nd, and by all accounts was lovely.  I was sorry to have missed it and the other family members who gathered.

I thought of my mother, who died on Nov. 7th of last year.  I think about her daily, at times still feeling like I failed her, could not save her.  I do still talk to her as well.  A complex, shattering subject.  My love for her has never failed.

I turned fifty this year.  Nothing that contributed to any anxiety.  I got to spend it with the NJ family as well as others in various boroughs in NYC and Long Island.  You can scroll back to April to read about it.  Do I feel my age? Older, on some days, but mostly like the same guy who fretted over different things earlier in his life.  The mirror may reveal something else.  There is more and more grey in my beard, but I embrace it.

I began going to the gym at 5:30 on weekend mornings last summer.  That's big.  It proved to be energizing and a solution to my time dilemmas.  Lately, the early morning visits have been sporadic due to trips, and yes, some laziness.  But I plan to get back to three weekdays a week after the holidays.  Hold me to it, invisible audience.

Work? Mostly good, and the last month or so, while insanely busy, has been very good.  I can say again that I love being an audiologist, and have met many wonderful new patients this year, while still serving many long timers.  A few did leave this Earth this year.

Let's see.  Had my first colonoscopy in November.  Went well.  There is an entry.  Not too gross.

Got to have dinner with an old friend I hadn't seen in several years.  We have traded texts on holidays.  There are others I have kept in touch with that way.  Back in the '00s, I would've never imagined I would  embrace texting.

People moved away.  Friends, patients, even the pastor of my church.  Each departure affects me differently but irrevocably.  We still live with my MIL,  and are still trying to figure out where to move as our patience with FL grows thinner by the year.  We have ideas, but I won't spill until something is more definite.

There is a big announcement that I have yet to make on this blog.  Something I learned almost ten years ago about my family.  Observant readers may have pieced a few things together.  Perhaps I will do an entry on the anniversary date.  I think it's time.

So that was 2019.  The blog was the same as it ever was, mostly film reviews.  There is another considerable collection waiting to be posted.  I hope you enjoy them.  As always, I will try to share more of my life here.  Like I'm supposed to? Are blogs quaint now? I dunno.

Blessings for your 2020.