Oh Fern, condolences. I hope you always feel like this is a safe space to vent. Here`s hoping for a good 2010 for you.

I have not posted my year end musings, but I will add to the FUCK CANCER chorus.

I'll always add my voice to that chorus, too. I'm sorry for the loss of your friends, Fern.

I'm so very sorry, Fern.

{{Fern}} I'm so sorry.

Fern, I'm very sorry. I am, however, glad that you felt moved to come and share with us. That's what we are here for.

Remember when I said this?

I think 2009 and I may have some unfinished business that won't get resolved until early 2010. We shall see.

Yeah. I finished that business, with a lot of help from my friends. As Bitches already know, I broke up with KBD. It ended a 1.5 year relationship in which I tried to break up with him twice in person, at least once over the phone, and once via email. And that's not counting the time where we actually broke up and then got back together.

I am somewhat aghast at what I put up with and the lengths I had to go to in order to assert myself, but I've certainly learned a lot about myself and improved how I deal with conflict. I've still got a long way to go, for sure, but I know a lot more now.

I've also got several changes that I'll be making to my Match profile, thankyouverymuch.

I want to say that all the marvelous relationships I have witnessed via Buffistas give me hope and something I can aspire to. Thank you for continually reminding me what a partnership can be.

Thank you, all, for the kind words. Mostly I feel bad for his widow, who is also a great person.

{{smonster}} It sucks to end a relationship, but sometimes, not as much as not ending it. Strength to you.

EEEEEEE. I just got a package from Chapel Hill, so I promptly dropped all that boring work stuff to open it, and now I am surrounded by COOL THINGS. I got a really cool card with polar bears on it, a bag of lavender oatmeal herbal bath tea that smells divine, a giant match which has already been added to my office toys, postit notes that say "Now don't make me hand you your ass...", a chocolate filled candy cane, a cat toy, the I Miss Buffy: Megan Gogerty's Awesome Tribute Album CD Moravian Chocolate Dipped Spice Cookies, an awesome refrigerator magnet that I love even more than most people would because it looks exactly like the old Spanish tile on the staircase in the house I grew up in, peanuts I can use to ship camera stuff to Sue, and a book of pithy Holiday proclamations.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, SMONSTER!!! I LOVE IT ALL.

Yay, Perkins! I'm so glad. Sorry it took me so long to get it to you, but how perfect that it arrived on a Monday! (Psst - it's an ornament, not a cat toy. Though the former certainly frequently serves as the latter, goodness knows.)

I also retract my USPS criticism, since I mailed it Thursday and it got there today.

I tell ya, giving/getting Buffista Secret Santa gifts was a total highlight of my holiday season.