Forgive me father, for I have sinned...it has been 561 days since my last confession...
The past year has been very, very bad. It started with a car accident about a year ago. Fortunately Alex and I were okay, but my vehicle was totalled. I was not looking forward to another car payment, and my streak of nearly 14 years without a car accident was erased. Thankfully the accident was not my fault!
Not too long after that, my mother-in-law was hospitalized. At first we thought she just had a bad cold, but it developed into something far, far worse. She went into the hospital in March, and never left. We lost her just before Christmas. In the meantime, the hospital stay, and trying to settle her affairs at her old home while we attempted to find a new one for her dominated our year--to the exclusion of other things that I now very much regret.
Still, I may have been able to handle that loss (and more importantly help Sandy through it better) had I not had a loss of my own:
Just before Thanksgiving, I lost my father very suddenly to a very severe case of pneumonia. He went from being in tremendously good health for a 74-year-old man to beyond the Rim in a matter of a week. He was my example in all things in life, and I miss him tremendously. It hurts me even to write this, but it must be written.
With my father gone, my mother was left alone. While I would have gladly sacrificed everything to help her, I was reminded by the rest of the family that I still have two very young children to take into consideration. My mother moved shortly after Christmas to live with my brother and his wife in Iowa; their kids are all grown and can provide additional help if needed. I understand the rationale, and we still speak very frequently, but the loss still is there. Christmas 2014 was the last Christmas I will ever celebrate in the home I grew up in. My mother had no choice but to sell.
And all through this there was still life to be lived. There was baseball and Cub Scouts and homework (both mine and the kids!) to take care of, along with the usual pressures of work. The stress took its toll on me unfortunately, and all the progress I had made in the past year towards weight loss was wiped out and then some.
But did I give up? Hell NO!!!! My next post will describe what's happening now.
In the meantime, I am very, very thankful that even as bad as last year was we did have a family reunion last May. Almost all of Clan Condrey was able to attend and as far as I am concerned it was the highlight of the year!
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