matching tracksuits

"I for one will be glad to see 2019 behind us." That seems like a common sentiment, and it's one a number of people hold every year: I'm sure millions said a year ago, "I for one will be glad to see 2018 behind us."

I don't see the logic in that thinking. It's not as if a given year has some kind of sentience and will, bestowing wonderful gifts on those it loves and extracting horrific costs from those it doesn't. A year is a year -- a completely arbitrary thing.

Still, 2019 was a tough year for our family in a lot of ways.

It began with the passing of our loved Bida -- the old, ornery rescue cat that chose to stay with us for over a decade. She put up with two kids whose love, when they were little, was more like an assault than affection. She stood up to our silly dog and made Clover realize that among the pets, she was the boss. In the end, it was I, the one who said he hated her, to stayed with her to the end. It was late, and everyone else went to bed.

A couple of days later, a dear friend died from cancer. We were fortunate enough to be able to visit with him just about two or three days before he passed. "You've always been such a fighter," K assured him. "Well, this fight's over," he said, and I could tell that his wife took that hard, though she knew it well enough herself and had probably heard it multiple times. He seemed to realize that his time was very near: he'd been calling old friends for what turned out to be one last conversation, and we were very touched that he specifically wanted us to come by for a visit.

But these two events, tragic though they were, both occurred within the context of an even more personally brutal loss: the year began with Nana in rehab and ends with her out of our daily lives altogether. If someone asked me at the start of the year what I foresaw in 2019, I would have talked about the long process of rehabilitation that awaited Nana, about the stress all that would put on the family, about how it would undoubtedly bring us closer, about my hope for a return to some semblance of normalcy with perhaps Nana in a wheelchair or still largely confined to bed but still with us. I wouldn't have thought we would leave the decade without her.

Yet there were bright moments throughout the year. The renovation of our carport completed, Nana and Papa moved in, and Papa remains here still. It's good to know he's in a safe place, that he's near, that we can take care of him. Nana was here with us only a week: perhaps that assurance that Papa was safe was the last thing holding her back.

The Girl blossomed as a volleyball player. She was a starter on her school team, which went undefeated for the season and won the final championship tournament as well. It's a passion that's lasted several years now, longer than dance or gymnastics ever did.

A mixed year overall.