The year 2010 in a nut shell..

Looking back and taking stock of last year for me.  January started off depressing.  It had been so icy out that Christmas with my kids had to be changed a couple of times.  Alone on Christmas Day 2009 I gathered up goodies to take with me to the nursing home to visit an old friend of mine.  I slid sideways backing out of my garage into the alley.  This scared me enough that I managed to get the car back in the garage and I went back in the house.  I think that I was in a state of depression, no family close by, 100 miles in two different directions.  So the thought began to cross my mind in January that I wanted to move closer to family.  Not Chicago where my son lives, as the traffic is horrendous there.  I love my son dearly but I couldn’t imagine driving in that area. 
That left moving closer to my daughter.  Still, I really did not want to leave my home, 50 years of memories there with Jim.  So I put that thought to the back of my mind.  The winter continued snowy, cold and lots of ice.  I did manage to get out most days to workout at the fitness center.  I was doing really well too, lifting fixed weights, treadmill and recumbent bike.  I had a lot of friends, even a few of them were almost like family.  But the idea was still in my head to move.  I did a lot of soul searching over this.
Time moved along until as I have mentioned before in a post, I woke up one morning in March and picked up the phone and called the realtor that had sold my good friend’s house.  Johnny on the spot he marched his bottom end over, took photos.  Wham, bam, the next day he started showing the house.  On the 5th day my house sold.  Divine intervention is what my Twin told me and I have come to believe that.
Next came a lot of pure hard work on my part.  Doctor visits, dental checkup, and the most daunting task of all, packing up 50 years of stuff.  Sorting, packing and giving away, I did this all myself.  My daughter came to help me with a garage sale.  I made several trips moving stuff in my car and my good friends Rex and Sandi furnished me with all of the boxes that I needed.  Still all in all I had to hire a moving van.
Ok, now on April 15 I found myself living in a city that is 8 times larger than the little town I lived in for so long.  Oh no, there are lots of one way streets here which I haven’t mastered yet. (That is a new year’s resolution by the way)  I suffered so much with homesickness.  I thought I had made a terrible mistake.  As the time has passed I have developed what my daughter calls my “comfortable routes” that I use to go to the stores, pharmacy, etc.  She keeps telling me that I can go another way and for heavens sake mom use the GPS as that is what it is for.  Having raised two kids, I just nod my head and agree and go right ahead and do exactly what I want to do.
Anyway, the bottom line is, I am happy here.  I do miss my house and my friends, but I call them and they call me and a couple of them have come to see me a few times.  I have a lot of family here besides my daughter and son in law.  So summing everything up, 2010 has been a good year for me and I am looking forward to 2011 being even better.
I hope this will be a good year for you all too.
  Beth