Goodbye 2025. Hello 2026.
This past year has been full of surprises. One of my partners had cancer. It sucked. Diagnosed in April and after surgery and chemo, declared cancer free earlier this month. I never got out of the country this year as planned, nor did I travel much farther than the Berkshires to visit my other partner from time to time in her travel job. I had a pinched nerve in my neck that took weeks of chiropractic care to correct, enjoyed a cardiac ablation to cure my SVT (spoiler, it kind of worked…) and missed seeing Counting Crows this year for the first time since 2016. We lost a cat in January, had another run-in with mental health issues and drug abuse, resulting in not one but TWO stolen cars on two different occasions, and generally had a shit time. I missed a lot of motorcycle weather for various reasons, so it wasn’t a record year for riding, although I will admit that the Mohawk Trail in Western Mass is a great ride. You should try it if you bike.
Things are ending on an upside, though. Like I said, we’re cancer-free. The travel job is ending this week, and I’ve made a new friend who offers me a world of things to learn about that I never needed to understand before. I went 48 weeks straight on my weekly photo challenge before having such a busy Sunday that I missed the fucking thing in week 49. I’ll start again next year, I guess. Also, we got two new kittens that have become the heart of the house (see Cats in the Library for a take on that) I watched Ted Lasso – all three seasons of it- because my partner with cancer asked. It was enjoyable, but that’s about as much TV as I want to watch for a while, thanks.
But I’ve started to want to write again. That’s a very good thing. I’ve also taken up shooting pool again, so let’s add that to the long list of things I spend time on (and photography, and ax throwing, and bowling, and soon go-carting, too!) I’ve got some biggish ideas in my head that might end up here if I can make them work out. I signed up for a half marathon, too. In May. I Guess I should start training seriously for THAT soon. I keep myself busy these days, and I keep trying to be a better human being every goddamned day. It’s hard. You all know.
This post seems like a stream of consciousness and that’s okay – at least I’m writing (on a Cherry mechanical keyboard, no less… what a pleasure THAT is) and writing is good. My muse has been chirping to me in the dark places that are no longer occupied by monsters, which is also a good thing. Let’s all raise a glass to therapy, right?
I guess that’s enough catching up for now. I expect to write a holiday story one of these days, but not today.
At least not right now.
It’s been a year, and as our friend Adam Duritz reminds us:
“…It's been a long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last…”
I am hoping for 2026 to be far better than this one.
