One for the books

Where the hell did 2006 go?

Well, a good quarter of it was spent in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and at home. But we’ll get to that in a second.

This was a year of tremendous personal highs and lows for me. On the bad side, I almost lost my father twice and I spent months driving back and forth between my home and my parents’ home trying to help my parents out while my son asked every night when I was coming home. My son was critically ill and required a stay in the ICU and surgery. I was offered a dream job but turned it down because I couldn’t juggle the job and my family (not to mention that the pay sucked). I lost a friendship that meant a lot to me.

But ya know, I’ve never been one to dwell on the negative for long. There were so many great things that happened this year:

*First “real” family vacation to Disney World with our good friends Flash, Debbie, and their kids
*My second trip to Vegas on Valentine’s Day week that was a total blast
*Going to Boston for the PIM reunion and getting to spend time with some of the most amazing ladies in the world
*Mer coming to visit me with her son and how much fun we had
*Getting my LEED certification and completing my second LEED project (no certifications yet, though!)
*Reconnecting with my friends at work after being gone for over a year and realizing how important they are to me
*Completing my first two 10K races, with the second one being the scariest and best one yet
*Managing to keep the 50 pounds I’ve lost off – something I never thought I’d be able to do
*Strengthening my relationships with my parents and siblings
*Starting this blog and rediscovering how much I love to write (not to mention the savings on the therapy bills!)
*Coming to a place of peace in terms of my relationship with my Out Laws and realizing that they don’t define my marriage

And probably the best parts:

*Celebrating 10 years of marriage with my soulmate (even though his piles of dirty socks make me a little nuts)
*Having an adorable, happy, healthy son again (ditto on the piles of dirty socks, but the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree)
*The health and happiness of my family, especially my parents who mean the world to me
*My friends – the new ones, the old ones, blogging friends, drinking friends, you all know who you are!
*Rediscovering myself and reclaiming myself as ME – not a mom, not a wife, not as an employee, but an individual who loves life and loves to laugh and being a girly girl and a badass at the same time

So what will 2007 bring for me? Stay tuned, but I suspect there will be plenty of debauchery. And maybe some babies. And maybe some baby debauchery. I do know that there will be some traveling, some friends coming from far away, and of course my daily travails with EPOD and eye cream.

To all of y’all – thank you. Thank you for all the support and the laughs and the hugs this year. And I hope everyone has a wonderful, prosperous New Year full of laughs and love.