The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Reflections on The Year That Sucked.

Now that's a title to make you want to jump right in, huh?!

It's the last day of this suckish year however, so of course that means a bit of time for reflection. Auld Lang Syne and all that.

It was actually hard right off to think of the good that has been part of this year. Just one of the reasons that this year sucks is that the Ugly seems to eclipse the good and fabulous. But let's be honest - the way the year ends is really what you remember the most, right?

The Good.
The Princess Graduated High School and started her gap year working at Starbucks.(coffee always appears on the 'good' list!)
We had a fabulous vacation in New Orleans with my big sis, Baz and Mitch.
I ran my first 5k and 10k races.
The kids got a fabulous new bathroom (but that's connected to a'bad'list item!)
Mitch got engaged (congratulations again!)
Simey got the metal contraption off his leg and just has a boot (again though - connected to an 'ugly')
Piet's sister and husband surprised him for Christmas and flew over (they are still here with us!)

Those last three on the list happened just this month - so fresh goodies!

The Bad.
Piet had to fly home to Australia to be with family (see the first on the Ugly list)
I got to work with the health care system here much more closely than I ever would have cared to (see the next in the Ugly list)
We had some calls to the school in the first half of the year for the Princess - 'nuff said!
The kids bathroom needed a complete gut and reno because of a leak.

And The Ugly.
Piet's brother Simon's horrendous motor bike accident.
The months of testing, phone calls and doctor/specialist visits that resulted in the tumor that is Fred being diagnosed.

Now when I look at these lists I see that the good has so much more in there - but those will not be what this year is remembered for.
And when I think back to the start of this year, there is no way that I would have imagined most any of the bad and ugly happening. So there is a bit of me that is glad that its over, and another that is hoping that I have learnt from it.
I feel more loved than ever - from both family and friends, both near and far. And I think that I appreciate what life offers more than ever too. Kind of morbidly realizing that it is such a gift that we do take for granted all too much.

So thanks for sharing a little part of what this year looked like.
And if you made it this far, you KNOW you deserve a reward....



Hugs until next year
Megan

Phone calls, Family & Feels

The phone is becoming a bit of a necessary evil in this process to kill Fred. I seem to spend an extraordinary amount of time on it. And waiting for it to ring. I'm not sure I'm liking it all that much.

Especially when it's booking in for treatments. I was still managing very well in denial until this past week. (was pretty happy too in that 'oh, it'll be fine' space too!)

But this week, after calling, and calling, and -yep, calling some more, I finally managed to get the page turned to 2014 (WHAT? This year is almost over folks - and not to scare you too much - Christmas is next week!) so that I could book in for my MRI and planning CT scan. 

Now there is no way that I can pretend Fred is not there and that I truly am just injured from running. Let's pretend here that I AM an athlete (Mum - try not to laugh till you pee at that, k?!) 

So - the phone is not my friend. This week at least. 

The family bit? Loving FaceTime for seeing and talking and laughing with some of the fam this week too. 

Part of this whole denial thing was avoiding talking to Australia. It's hard being away from them all at the best of times. So at the worst of times..... It sucks. Big time.

But chatting with the big sis and the mother was so much fun - why was I avoiding it? I'm thinking I need to take on Mandi's philosophy that if I'm gonna have to have something icky, I best be able to have fun with it. 

So we did. And thanks for the visuals girlies - and the urban dictionary. Who knew a dictionary could be so funny?!

But then after the laughs comes the feels. Lots of them.

This side effect of tears is just not the fun part. I went to see Dr K this week, and so the pain has been sorted mostly. It's this emotional bit that is hard to handle.

And just as a side not - what is with the acid years I'm getting? You know - those ones that sting? Not a fan peeps, not a fan. 

So there you go. My week in review. The good the bad and the ugly.

And your reward for hanging in there for such a long post?  Here you go....