OK, 2019, This Had Better Be a Dress Rehearsal

This year is going kind of weirdly. We're halfway through the first month of the year, & already a handful of strange & less-than-ideal things have happened.

I got a vaccine that did not make me feel great.

My pneumonia vaccine was incredibly painful, & the site location was debilitatingly sore for nearly a week. It also gave me a fever for a few days, so I was pretty out of it. I've never had negative reactions like that to a vaccine, so I was really caught off-guard.

A pipe burst in our basement.

There's nothing quite as panic-inducing as hearing the sound of a waterfall... in your own home. I woke up one morning to Mike yelling that a pipe had blown & was starting to flood the basement. Fortunately, the maintenance guy came out within the hour to fix it, but what a day!

I got the stomach flu.

I woke up the first Sunday of the year & threw up. I originally thought I had food poisoning, but food poisoning shouldn't last 48+ hours! I didn't eat anything for a full two & a half days, nor did I really leave bed. Apparently it's going around, but I was so relieved when my turn ended.

I was diagnosed with a neurological disorder.

If you've read my earlier post about my new diagnosis, you know that I'm actually kind of happy about this one, not upset about it - but I mean, it's still a lot to take in, so I'd sure count it under that "going kind of weirdly" umbrella.

I was a victim of credit card fraud.

On Friday night, I checked my bank balance to make sure I was doing OK, then I headed to the grocery store - where my card was promptly declined for insufficient funds. In the 30 minutes between those events, someone used my debit card to make a huge, fraudulent Nike purchase! I paid by credit card & had to shut everything down with my bank.

Perhaps the worst thing, though, is that my best friend's dad passed away after a short illness. They're not doing a funeral; instead, they're holding two memorial services in different states, next month or later. She booked herself a few days in Florida to decompress, try to deal, & maybe do some planning - & she asked me to join her.

So that's where I am right now, as you read this: in Fort Lauderdale with my best friend, getting rid of some of the bad juju from the first two weeks of the year & trying to look forward. Together.

Let's start to pick it up 2019, shall we?