I’ll be honest 2024 hasn’t been my favorite year. Not even in my Top Ten, or maybe Top Twenty. We finally got the damage caused by a hail storm of over a year ago finished up. Last thing was getting the south wall of the house repainted because of hail caused damage to the paint and the trim. The painter we hired to do the job had done some house painting for us before. We thought he did a pretty good job but what I didn’t think about was he was much younger then and had guys who worked with him. He’s working alone now so a job that should have taken at most five days took three weeks. He and my husband bonded the first day so he felt very comfortable coming in to use our “restroom” several times a day. He wanted to put his lunch in our fridge. He taunted our dog who he insisted was named Truvie. The wall and trim looks nice but it was a very, very long three weeks.
Both the dishwasher and refrigerator croaked completing the circle of major appliance replacements. Washer/dryer finally gave it up late last year. I was forced to babysit the old pair because unless the washer was watched, it didn’t fill. I would think it was done only to find when I went downstairs to put the clothes in the dryer they weren’t even washed yet. We replaced them with a washer/dryer combo you put the clothes in and walk away for two hours then go get your clean, dry clothes. Now we can only hope these appliances will outlive us. Fingers crossed.
We’ve both had health issues that thankfully weren’t life threatening but were definitely annoying, time-consuming and not all covered by Medicare. I got my second round of cortisone injections in my knees and while I got some relief it was short lived so I was referred to University Hospital for gel injections which I had the end of June. Mo has a horrible disease which is circulation-related which affects his shins. They will heal but will take some time. Can you say compression socks?
In June, on a perfectly normal day, we got up as usual in the morning but thought our adorable Trudie wasn’t acting quite herself. On advice of her vet, we took her to a veterinarian emergency hospital. One minute she was my little Boo and the next she was gone. A cancerous tumor in her abdomen had ruptured and there was no hope, only her prolonged agony. So we did what we knew we had to because she was in so much pain. We miss her every day. Every single day.
In July we threw ourselves into the presidential election when Kamala Harris was asked to replace President Biden. We both found a reason to feel hopeful and positive about life again. Surely a convicted felon wouldn’t win, couldn’t win, could he? Things looked up. At least for four months. Then I, like so many other women, got those hopes dashed—again. I’m disappointed to realize so many people would prefer being represented on the world stage by a under-qualified, misogynistic, sociopathic, narcissistic, pathological, lying con man than a qualified, intelligent, honest, compassionate, thoughtful woman who genuinely cares about the population of this country and wanted to work on their concerns. Wanted to try to make things better. So in November, again I lost all hope for a better future for this nation of ours. A new maturity. A more enlightened view of women, in general.
The new president has an opportunity few of us ever have. He has Do-Over. He can fix stuff he had a hand in screwing up. He can be better, not bitter. He can move forward, not dwell in the past or over perceived grievances. He can change his profile in the history of this country. In the history of its good leaders versus the bad ones. And while he may have won the election there were lots of people who voted for his opponent. Others who believed his opponent should win but allowed outside pressures to keep them from voting with their hearts and brains. Not everyone thinks he is the cat’s pajamas. I probably won’t live to see a woman become president and, for that, I’ll always be sad. I thought we were a more mature, more enlightened nation but apparently we are not.
Our granddaughter, who is beyond amazing, fell head first into a drainage ditch and broke every bone in her face and nose. Concussion and cuts and bruises were the least of her head injuries. She is a nurse in a pediatric oncology wing of her hospital and youngest floating charge nurse. Because there have been an unusually large amount of children being admitted with cancer, she was back at work a few days after the accident. In pain but working nonetheless. That’s how dedicated she is. She’ll be 26 in February.
Our one bright spot is our new puppy, Cocoa Bean. It’s a long story how she came to us but we just feel blessed she did. She’s more often a cocoaNut. We have to keep reminding ourselves she still a puppy when she gets zoomies or chews everything she isn’t supposed to but she’s sweet and cute and smart and has filled a hole in our hearts for which we will be eternally grateful.
So I bid farewell to 2024. Good-bye and I pray this will be a small memory for me going forward. I have no expectations for 2025. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised, that would be nice. I guess I’ll look forward to getting some projects done, getting Cocoa Bean trained. Figuring her out, figuring us out as her parents. I’m planting some tulips this spring and I’ll have faith they’ll grow and bloom. Maybe I’ll find someone to cut my hair and I’ll have a new look in my old age.
Soosey’s Ruminations 