03 October 2008

2008, the year we hate!!!

It's been awhile since we've posted anything here on the blog. It has been a stressful year, wrought with challenges, to say the least, and our mantra has now become,

2008, the year we hate!!!

Here is our list, so far, of all the reasons we hate 2008 and it's only October:

  • February - Our eldest daughter has a heart attack and needs a stent put in her heart.
  • April - I develop tendonitis in my right forearm and elbow from moving furniture to prepare for new flooring and required physical therapy. The arm is gradually getting better, but it's still a little painful to type and use the computer's mouse.
  • May 1 - John's heart arrhythmia acts up and we spend a day in the emergency room.
  • July 2 - Our 16 year old Boston Terrier dies in my arms
  • July 14 - John get second degree burns all over the tops of both legs when a glass coffee carafe full of boiling water breaks in our new apartment in Costa Rica
  • July 28 - The water line under the kitchen sink (in Houston) breaks during the night and completely floods the kitchen, brand new bamboo floor (April 2008) in living room and dining room. Flood ruined lower kitchen cabinets, carpet in guest bath, kitchen tile, bamboo floor and entry way tile.
  • August - Our 3-legged, 12 year old Boston Terrier is diagnosed with incurable Cushing's disease and we are still looking at treatment options
  • August - Our other daughter evacuated from southern Louisiana with her husband, twin 2 year olds and an infant to avoid Hurricane Gustav. They lost part of their roof and incurred thousands of dollars in damages. (In spite of the circumstances, it really was fun for us to be able to spend time with them here. The kids are just growing up too fast.)
  • September 11-19 - We had to take our daughter and grandkids back to Louisiana to escape Hurricane Ike as it was barreling down on us in Houston. We were without power for 4 days, minor flooding in house, lots of broken tree limbs (none hit the house fortunately). We had a generator for emergency power, but did without the Internet for a few days.
  • September 22 - Construction crew shows up to rip out kitchen and repair all the damage from the July flood and tell us to plan on eating out for the next 3 weeks.
  • September 25 - I get laid off from from my company after 22½ years.
Well, enough of our tale of "woe is me". It's done now and we'll just have to put all this this behind us and move on. In the meantime, I've polished up my resume while listening to the construction crew tear up the damaged floors and cabinets. Monday I'll file for my unemployment insurance and start the process of finding another career. I've been down before and somehow I've always managed to get back up. I am so grateful for my rock, John. He is so wonderful and I know we'll work through this trying time together.

I sure hope our mantra for 2009 will go like this....

2009, all is fine and we're having a grand time!!!

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