Wow! I can hardly believe that a month in the new year has gone by so rapidly. As such, I have decided to renew my vow to become a more effective writer by writing some more. I use as my perpetual inspiration W. Bruce Cameron, who recently started sending his humor column again after a long hiatus. Truthfully, I thought my job’s spam filter had been rejecting his columns. In the vein of continuance, I want to start with my favorite subject in the new year: my talk about the previous year gone by. Upon careful reflection, I would have to label 2011 as the year of a whole new world.
The theme song from Disney Pictures animated classic Aladdin says in its chorus, “A whole new world/a new fantastic point of view.” And that’s what last year was for me. I got a chance to see every part of my world picked up, shaken, and turned entirely around. In January, I returned to work after winter break only to stay at work for fourteen days before taking off five months of maternity leave. It was the first time in the previous sixteen years being employed at the college that I’d stayed away longer than a week, and I was trepidacious. Nevertheless, I left.
That Saturday, I had a large host of family and friends show up at my baby shower, although truth to tell, I was nervous about who would show up. But it turned out beautifully, thanks to my aunt and cousin.
Then on Monday, January 24th at 10:42pm, I had the most exhilarating experience I have ever known: I gave birth to my very first (and at this point only) son, Ayden. This is not to say that I romanticized Ayden’s birth in any way, shape or form. My ass was numb; my legs, also numb, were propped wide open by stirrups; and I can only imagine what was gushing out of me. On top of that, I will freely admit that with Ayden, it was not love at first sight because the doctor slapped him on top of me right afterward and he was coated in that waxy white vernix. He also did not look like he was feeling much love either, because he had a very prominent frown on his face, like he was saying, “Hey! I was comfortable; why’d you pull me out?” But our love affair eventually grew as we got to know one another.
Fast forward five months later: I celebrated my first Mother’s Day as a mother with my mother and grandmother. I also got an opportunity to walk across the stage and celebrate the receipt my Masters degree, which had been mailed to me the previous October. I returned to work in time to continue my annual duties as volunteer Marshal. I celebrate both my man’s and my father’s birthday.
But the most important even that happened in May was right at the beginning of the month. On May 4, 2011, I signed contract papers for my very first home. We started the search in October, found a few almost homes: the first one we almost signed for had radon problems and owner negotiation problems. The second and third, we lost the contract to someone else while waiting for adjustments to our financing. All in all, we viewed over 200 houses online, and possibly 40 in person, from almost every neighborhood within our county. In the end, I love the home we ended up with. Some of the main selling points were the deck, the master bedroom, and the bathroom locations. We have just enough room for our little family, and I imagine there will be even more room once we get rid of more of the boxes! We ended up moving in the middle of the month, and we moved my dad in at the end of the month.
Not all of the events of the year were happy ones. June of last year saw the retirement of my boss after 37 years of employment (the same as my age). Her retirement was bittersweet because in a way I was glad to see her go to live out another transition in her life; her final years on the job were filled with a lot of negativity as she saw the camaraderie of the college climate erode. But since I had worked for her since 20, and she had helped shape me into the woman I am today, it was heartbreaking to say a farewell. But she isn’t too far, and I can always pick up the phone and chitchat and laugh with her. We even had lunch together during the break.
As I said in the previous paragraph, again, not all of the events of the year were good events. On July 1st, I got caught on a curb, crashed through a speed limit sign and into a utility pole. I was dropping Ayden off at day care when the accident occurred. In the end, the Dodge Nitro truck I had ended up being counted a total loss. But God is good in all things and as I read in a recent email forward, God is never wrong! Ayden suffered no injury, other than being awakened from his car nap, and I only had superficial wounds from the airbag and the seatbelt. And the accident confirmed the compassion of the human spirit. About ten people rushed forward to help me during the accident: calling 911, taking Ayden out of the truck, cleaning my wounds, while I remained pretty much in a calm state of shock, barefoot on the pavement (the accident had knocked my shoes off). In the end, the totaling of the vehicle proved to be a real blessing since adjusting to all the bills of the new house was proving to be difficult with no extra income from teaching. Eventually, I ended up with a newer model car that had less mileage, took less gas, and was less of a financial burden: I even got a 3-month break in having to pay the car note and $100 gas card!
Other than that, the summer passed pretty uneventfully, and then it was back to the fall, where I was privileged to take on teaching four classes in addition to my full-time job at the library. Even with shortened staff and more responsibilities as far as working and grading, I managed to avoid a lot of stress. Then on October 15, my man proposed, officially becoming my fiancée, and I received the diamond engagement ring I wanted. We were actually planning to elope and go to Vegas, but time and money got away from us. Now we’re planning a more inclusive ceremony locally, but we are trying to cut out as many of the frills as possible.
So that is my year. 2012 promises to be yet another facet of this whole new world as I progress from being a Ms. to a Mrs.
