2006 has been a long, winding year. This year, I think I've made more progress than in other years. As hard as it was at times, I think it was a better year than many before it. In January, I watched
Love Actually for the first time ever, and then rewound it to watch all over again. I
started to feel less crazy about my husband's betrayals when I knew they were true. I spent a lot of this year coming to terms with my divorce, and all that such a thing entails. I can honestly say I am much better these days than I thought I could be about it. I had a dream, and it told me so.
This was also the year that
Tyler berated a child in NXNW for good reasons. (He also had a road rage incident in their parking lot on another time, but when does he not have road rage?) I turned
twenty six and my mother made me a very good cake. I watched a lot of movies this year, though not as many as I should have. I watched
Baghdad ER though I shouldn't have because it scared me too much. I did a lot more driving this year, to Houston and back several times.
I also took my first real vacations in ages. In August
there were a million butterflies in West Texas when Tyler and I went to the Frio River. I haven't had so much fun
doing nothing in my whole life. (Except for my crown breaking, it was perfect.) I put myself in debt to get that dental care, but it's probably a good investment. I like having teeth even when they freak me out. I also went to
the bright city of NYC where I managed to get myself lost plenty and see my favorite museum as well as old friends. It was a good trip, even though my kitty died while I was away.
Aside from the teeth, I went through a bout of bronchitis and my
mysterious abnormal liver fiasco. When the test results
finally came back I was cleared of any obvious health problems. I'd like to blame my defective liver on my genes. I started trying to take care of my mind as well as my teeth and my liver this year. So far, so good.
Our friend Bob
went to Iraq after he re-enlisted this year. On Christmas eve,
he got hurt. Bob's hopefully coming back to the US in the next few days for rehab and recovery. I don't think they are going to be able to send him back, and I'm glad for that. He's in a bad way, and it worries me more than I would like to admit. I want to see Bob and Krista get married soon. Our friends
Jim and Elisa are getting married too.
The Alamo Drafthouse had another
Lord of the Rings marathon with a feast that I could attend. The guy who cut in line is named Mike, and he took me to a Romanian place for dinner a week later. I haven't written much at all about this, and nothing public because I haven't quite made up my mind how. I've almost been afraid to name this as anything, because it is good and I'm superstitiously afraid that it might vanish if I give it a name.Mike gave me a lovely Christmas present though, and I would be annoyed with myself for not recording a part of my life that is happy. It seems almost too good to be real, to run into a smart person with a Russian flashcards and Southern charm? (You missed the discussion of the proper pronunciation of 'pecan' at dinner last night, but I assure you it was funny.)
So 2006 was better than the year before. (How could anything not be better, really?) I did things I needed to do. I did things just for me, went on vacations and had fun. I met someone I quite like. No one died. Things might even be okay. It is a novel feeling to end a year with something like optimism. I only hope it lasts for a long time yet.
