I have two words for 2010: Good riddance! This year will be forever seared in my memory as one of loss.
It started off on an upswing with a 25-pound weight loss, but as the months progressed they seemed to only bring one personal loss after another.
My beloved daddy died in May after a heartbreaking, dignity-robbing, five-year decline into dementia. I thought I had already grieved for Daddy when he forgot who we were two years ago. Turns out, I was wrong.
In the fall, my precious beagle had to be put down when he lost his sight. So I lost my two best buddies in six months.
There were other passings of friends and friends’ parents, a surprise setback discovered while handling my father’s estate and even a bittersweet loss when my son’s family moved out of our neighborhood. (I was happy that my oldest son and his wife were able to buy the new home they wanted, but their move meant they relocated granddaughter Lily — a.k.a. The Center of the Universe — to outer Ooltewah.)