Goodbye 2006

It's been a crazy year!! After reading Inkling and Ang's blogs I started thinking about each month of the year and seeing if I could come up with something, but I actually couldn't. January has simply disappeared for some reason... who knows. In February D.K. turned 7 and Bee turned 3. March marked 12 wonderful years of life together for Smart Guy and myself and 34 years on the planet for him, and I traveled to Illinois to give Inkling the bridal shower that I had been longing for her to have for years with Aunt Silver Belle. In April I turned 32, we came to our soon to be new home for a weekend visit at the new church, and we started swimming every afternoon after school. In May we started packing to move, school ended, and we drove to Missouri for the beautiful wedding of Inkling and H.D. so all of us but Smart Guy could take part in her day (Honey maybe if you'd been nicer to her...), and I mourned the loss of my single friend. In June I began learning to celebrate the relationship with my newly married friend, and came to realize that we now have another thing in common. I no longer had to wonder if it hurt her inside when I talked about my wonderful hubby and what it's like to be a mom. This was also the month that we found out Ruby and Mr. Debonair would be parents to yet another baby.

June also brought one of the most life changing events of my life. As we were driving from Alabama to the Midwest on moving day I happened to be in the wrong 10 feet on space on the planet. I was driving north on I-65 doing 70 mph when a 23 year man fell asleep in the southbound lane and came across my lane in front of me. I t-boned him at 70 mph with no chance to slow down. We flipped thru the air at least two full flips, witnesses say it may have been more, but it happened too fast to tell, and then landed upside down. I have never known anger like I've had toward that fool. I have probably used every name in the book to refer to him. At that time and for a long while after, I wasn't sure when the time would come that I could say I had forgiven him. At this point, I still think what he did was so irresponsible, it could have been prevented, but my anger has changed. At this point, traveling on the interstate with my children is very difficult. The trip to Smart Guys parents a few days ago was the first time I'd gone further than an hour away with my children in the car since the wreck. I unfortunately forgot my xanax, so it was a rough trip, but I made it there and back without a nervous breakdown... that seems like an accomplishment to me.

July brought a time of physical healing, anger festering, feeling loved by the new friends around me, getting to spend a lot of time with my mom, and unpacking my new home as the pain allowed. August brought a new school year at a new school for the boys and a visit from Mountain Mom and Grizzley Dad. September brought Prophet's ninth birthday and disbelief that it had been nine years since my oldest child's birth. We celebrated his birthday with a big family celebration for Labor Day at Mom and Dad's house with all my cousins's and aunts and uncles. October brought costume ideas and a family reunion at our new home. It was crowded, but it was fun!! November brought another family time with Thanksgiving and a trip to Cincinatti for the Youth Specialties conference and a wonderful and amazing time of worship, renewal, and reflection. December brought Christmas and the Advent season. It also brought a cold and the stomach flu into the house. Yuck!! Bee was fun this year. She was much more aware of what was going on than in years past!!

All in all, it's been a good year... we now live in a big, beautiful home near my mom and dad... we work with a wonderful church... we're one more year closer to getting the hospital debt paid down... we all survived what could have been a horrible wreck... the boys are doing very well in their new school... and I've learned that while relationships change, that it's okay, and it sometimes makes them even stronger.

God's been good to us this year... sometimes thats been hard to see thru my anger, but he's always been there along side me... sometimes in the form of a friend saying goodbye... sometimes in the voice of a new friend by my hospital bedside at 2am in the morning... sometimes in the concern of my boys when they would carefully help me out of bed even though they themselves were still in slings... sometimes in the arms of my mom... sometimes in the laughter of my children... sometimes in the ringing of a phone call from Canada... sometimes in a worship song that suddenly popped into my head at the right time... sometimes in the encouragement of someone who barely knows me, but still thought to speak to me....

and sometimes in my blog family... non-bloggers don't get it. How could you possibly love a bunch of crazys whom you've never met? I'm not sure I myself get it yet!! It's wierd... you're all a part of my life. I talk about you like I've known most of you forever. I know my family thinks I'm nuts!! Sometimes I find myself refering to ya'll as simply "my friend" instead of "my blog friend" so people will not think it less of a friendship. Silly huh!!

Well, I'm being beckoned downstairs to eat our New Years brownie sundays with my family!! The kids are still going strong at 11:30 and actually so am I!! So, Happy New Year dear, sweet girlfriends, I love each of you and wish you all the best things in 2007!!