Recap of Year 33.

The one thing I can say about my life is that is never ever dull. A brief recap of this year began with the office at ACON closing in Richmond and moving to Floroida(ironic). I was given the opportunity to work from home on a conditional basis. Two weeks after I started working at the house, we moved to the Honeytree at West End.

Halloween was fun, the kids had a blast. Then thanksgiving came with a lot sadness, Lina was getting sicker and we all felt helpless. She spent her last days where she wanted to be, with my dad in the home in GA. She watched part of her last FL/FSU game with me on the phone. It was a last decent day she had.

On December 2, after a three year battle with cancer, my brave step mother passed on. Those days are blur to me, and I miss her every day. She always had a level head and was calm and rational. Out of all the sadness came a stronger relationship with my step sister Jaime. I love her like she is my blood sister.

Christmas was bittersweet without Lina, but I worked really hard to make it special for the kids. We upheld all our family traditions and create a few new ones.

In January, our lives were turned upside down when our neighbor knocked on our door at 1:30 on 1/27 to tell us her apartment was on fire. I grabbed the dogs and the laptops and Joe grabbed the cats and we were out the door. We sat for what felt like an hour and watched the firemen put the fire out.

No one was hurt and the fire was started by my neighbor improper use of a cigarette. But we had renter insurance, so we moved into another apartment at Honeytree and started rebuilding our lives. The most important thing was that we were all safe and the animals were all safe.

After replacing a lot of our stuff, we celebrated Logan 16th birthday. It was hard to believe he was this old and the year had been tough because he continually refuse to make any effort in school. At that time he was bringing home 6 Fs on his report card.

I traveled to Florida, to spend time with my dad and to help him go through Lina things. This was so taxing to my heart. We took dad shopping and help him buy things that would not hurt him so much. I really wished I could do more for my dad, but grief is a personal journey. I hope he knows I am there for him. Jaime and I went to Downtown Disney and had a blast. I almost felt 16 again.

The sadness and stress of the years events kinda plagued us, so with our tax money I decided this family needed more fun. The kids are growing fast and Logan will be an adult in 2 years. So I bought season tickets for Kings Dominion. We started to go as much as possible as a family. The kids just seem to have a blast.

Taylor turned 11 soon after that and she had her first slumber party. She had a great time. My little girl is starting to turn into a little preteen. On her birthday, I took off and went to KD to celebrate.

May began with rushing Taylor to the hospital. She had pain in her side. After much debate, they decided it was her appendix. They took her appendix out on Cinco De Mayo. So we spent almost 3 days in the hospital and was released and within a week she was sick again with a high fever. We spent another night in the hospital. She ended up having a kidney infection.

It was that time that I realized I might have a gluten intolerance. For years I have been sick on and off. Randomly I would get sick and I would lose everything I ate or drank. I could not lose weight and was fighting insomnia. Within a week after giving up gluten, I dropped 4 inches. And soon after I dropped 10 pounds. My vomiting episodes stopped and my insomnia began to subside. Now a lot of the time, I feel like I am 23 again.

Taylor graduated from the 5th grade and is now heading to middle school. Joey passed and is heading to the 6th grade. Logan failed 6 out of 7 classes and will be repeating the 10th grade. It broke my heart but I just had to let him fail. I hope he learns his lesson.

Mother and Father day came and went. Both were nice but sad because they were the first one without Lina. Fathers day fell on Lina and Dad's anniversary. It hurt my heart to know he hurt so much.

At the beginning of this month, my baby turned 7. During that day, he tried to shave his face. He is now called Razorface.

Now I am the end of my 33rd year with bittersweet feelings, but the one thing I am thankful for is that I get to spend each year and each birthday with my husband. He is my partner in and life and he makes the day to day trials so much easier to bare. I know he did anything in his power to make this day special even though I am sad he has to work today.

I feel so surrounded with love and feel lucky because even when bad things happen there seems to be someone looking out for me.

So here hoping next year will bring loads of family fun and happiness, the end of the recession, new career opportunities, and financial opportunity that will lead to a new house and the end of apartment life.