It was a year that started out with the knowledge that my mom was going to die. Not that I wanted to start this thing that morose, but hey, that’s reality. She had been struck with cancer (ovarian) three times in the span of one year. She had surgery twice to remove tumors and chemo for several months. And still that stuff kept coming back.
I got to eulogize her twice. I got to see two very different groups of people gathered together to say goodbye, to talk about her, reminisce about her life and her impact.
I spent most of the next few months pining over a woman that eventually decided, without communicating it in any way, that she wasn’t interested. I would have thought crap like this would have ended in high school.
Work was tough. Challenging and rewarding, cause for learning and patience. I work with some of the best people I could hope for. For two years I’ve pestered them with, quite simply, the dumbest question they will probably ever have to field. And yet still they answer them, still they take the time to make sure I have the info I need.
Right now there is a big hole in the ground with pockets of cement and rebar strewn all about. But I know that in two years this project will revolutionize the area; not just Denver and Colorado, but potentially the surrounding states as well. And I’m a teeny little part of that.
Certainly the year ended on a high note with finishing the first draft of my novel. It’s not very good at this time, what writers would call the SFD – a sh**** first draft. But the idea is solid, and there’s some research to do (what did farmers in Easter Colorado wear near the turn of the century?) but it’s there. It exists.
What’s up for 2012?
Provided my knees hold up, some 10Ks; a second draft of the novel; some finished (and submitted!) short stories; maybe I’ll start on that play.
Regardless, let’s see people, if we can make this year our bitch, and not the other way around.
