2022 Annus Horribilis
Yes, I usually try to be a positive person. Usually at the end of the year I'm looking at the blessings that the year has brought and focusing on all the good that will come in the new year. Well, this year has done me in. I've had it! This has officially (at least in the book of Bfth) become the WORST year in in the life of Bfth and I while I'm trying to be hopeful for 2023, I'm also a little apprehensive. (PLEASE! After this horrible year, we NEED a really good, or dare I say it, GREAT 2023.)
So I'm sending off 2022 with 22 reasons why the year SUCKED for me personally (and perhaps you too.)
- My mom died. That alone could make this a horrible year, but there was so much more.
- My cousin's mom died in January. I ADORED her mother, who before dementia took it's toll was an incredible (and fun) woman.
- Two of my mom's dearest friends died in the months that followed and one of my husband's dearest friends passed away suddenly at the age of 60. (That's way too young in my book.)
- Queen Elizabeth died. I'm a bit of an anglophile and I did actually see the queen in person (I was really far away, but I was in the same "space" as she was) back in the 1990s. She certainly wasn't a perfect person, but she did dedicate her life to service. Therre will never be another monarch like her again.
- Getting off the death train, another relative is suffering from dementia and aphasia. Again, the world is being robbed of an incredibly kind, talented and funny woman.
- I injured my knee (who knows how) and while it is definitely better, it still bothers me and I've been unable to do my regular walking/exercising. (And have gained weight as a result). I just want to be "normal" again. (Yea, that's probably not going to happen.)
- FOUR trips to the MVC (that's the DMV to some of you) this year. FOUR TRIPS! (I think you should get a medal after 3.)
- My husband had a horrible reaction (not allergic) to lactaid. I won't go into details, but it was a Saturday night that I will NEVER forget. (And my son should be glad that he was out for most of the night because it was NOT PRETTY.)
- Standardized testing: thank GOD this is the last year of this (I think.) These tests prove nothing and are a waste of valuable classroom time. Futhermore, I PAID (okay we all pay) for my son to take the torturous SAT which none of the colleges he applied to needed. (I hope this is a trend that will continue.) A waste of time and money and only thing we got out of was stress.
- Rain, flooding and icing prevented us from seeing my dad on Christmas Eve/Christmas day. Yes, we were able to go down during the week (I had Thursday and Friday off) and it was probably better for us all than going down on the actual day, but still...
- The sunroof on my mother's car (now my car, but used by my son) had leakage problems. Probably because it hadn't been opened/used for at least a year (probably more.) We had several messages on the passenger side before we were able to get it fixed. And then we had a problem again a month later. It is all fixed now (fingers crossed), but having a small lake in your car is not fun.
- I returned to a new office. Yes, we all knew it was coming and it was a fact of life, but...So far it's once a week (but I'm hearing more in 2023.) It's a pain in the you know what to get to Newark and back. I rely on buses and we all know how that can be. (No offense NJ Transit.) I'm just so much more productive when I'm NOT in an office.
- High prices everywhere! (I'm not blaming any one person or entity.) The cost of gas (yes I know it's come back down again), the cost of groceries...even though I CAN afford the necessities, it's painful.
- No free ham. Ususally ShopRite offers a free ham (or turkey or vegan option) at Thanksgiving and Christmas IF you spend enough money within a set amount of time. (You KNOW that I do!) This year we did get the free Thanksgiving item, but there was no such offer at Christmas. Bummer.
- Dealing with financial institutions, particulary one: https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2022/08/if-you-like-aggravation-youll-love-this.html I'm not going to say anymore.
- My home office chair keeps going down at the strangest times. (What WOULDN'T be a strange time?) It's a relatively new chair, so I can't see why the compressor (which allows you to adjust the height) would be going, but I'll be sitting at my desk typing away and slowly I start to sink into the floor. (The chair was a "rescue" from my old office when it closed down, so I can't make this too much of an issue.)
- I had a bad allergy attack while on vacation. Everyone was very careful and I reviewed ingredients and procedures so we can't figure out why this happened. But it DID happen and the last night of our trip I was very sick. (Thankfully no hospital trip was necessary.)
- Deer! They are everywhere and eating EVERYTHING (or just about everything). Even the plants they are not supposed to like/eat they WILL if they are hungry enough. While we managed to save a few plants this year, much was lost to them. And I won't even go into all the deer poop in the year. When they come meandering in, I'm the crazy lady who goes out back and starts screaming at them and threatening them with an umbrella (yes an umbrella). It works...for a while...
- Entitled people; yes they have always existed, but it seems more and more keep coming out of the woodwork. No one is above the law. Let me say that again: NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW. I don't care who you are...And I'm not just talking about national politicians or "leaders." It's everywhere and it's disgusting. Maybe it's a lesson not everyone WILL learn, but it is one everyone SHOULD learn.
- The postal service continues to deteriorate. (Can't we DO something about this other than complain and not get any results?) I had a card returned to me twice because the stamp cancelling machine stamped the BACK of the envelope (where my return address label was) and not the front (where the address and actual stamp was.) I finally circled the address and wrote: DELIVER HERE on it so that it would reach it's destination. Another card came back to me with the note: VACANT, Unable to forward. The addressee was out of town, but had signed up to have her mail forwarded. Guess that didn't happen. More recently (and I realize that we are in the holiday "rush") a piece of mail took 8 days to get from Staten Island to my house...this is less than 30 miles away!
- Cookies that go missing. I baked 5 dozen (or maybe more) last Friday and the cookie jar was pretty much empty by Sunday. (Ok, I hid a few in a container and put it way back in the pantry so prying eyes couldn't see.) I suppose it shouldn't just be cookies, it could be any food that suddenly disappears and then I think I'm going crazy. Like the chocolate covered pretzels I bought at Callie's Candy Kitchen and then couldn't find. Turns out the boy had eaten them all! I don't mind sharing with him, but...
- Finally, one of the worst things about this year is that I did too much whining and complaining. It HAS been an awful year for me and my family, but much of what I complained about above is merely annoying and not earthshattering. The way to make 2023 better is to go into it with a positive attitude and roll with the punches as they come along (because you know they will come along.)
As this crappy year finally comes to a close, let's put all the sh*t behind us and try to move ahead with kindness. If we do, 2023 WILL be a better year.
See you then!
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