What a great idea, Fred!

This was the year of The Move. My HR job was sucking my soul out of my body on the reg and there was no way we could afford our mortgage without me keeping it. We decided to move to Michigan and, although the actual prep and move were a huge pain and we STILL aren't all unpacked, we are very happy we did. Love our new house and how great local NPR is and, basically, the whole Midwest thing.

My goals for 2018 are first, to get a job, hopefully as a substitute teacher, and also to do research about opening a used bookstore in the future. Also to get the rest of our books unpacked!

I haven't posted in Goodbye and Good Riddance in years, because nothing changed- I had the same job, the same minor annoyances, the same vaguely OK happiness, but nothing to womderful and nothing too bad.

This year has been a series of bad things-

1. In April I was diagnosed with diabetes

2. This made my doctor make me see all the doctors

3. My insurance is the high deductible kind

4. My physical became a diagnostic visit, so I had to pay for it

5. My mammogram became a diagnostic visit, and I had to have a biopsy and pay for it

6. Apparently an eye exam is $400

While this was happening, at work they hired an "assistant administrator" to supervise the "administrative assistants" who previously reported to the professors who ran the program we worked for. It was pretty stressful. I love my boss and hence love my job.

7. The day after this new boss started, my mother lost her vision and my uncle was in the ED.

8. The whole thing made me crazy because no one would let me help, and I am healthcare adjacent

9. I also completely changed my eating, lost 70 pounds, and have non-diabetic numbers. But I HATE it, and I sort of hate talking about it because I would never recommend this type of eating to someone who was not diabetic (High Fat, very low carb (around 30 - 40 per day). But everyone at work wants to talk about it because it is very visible.

10. My mother did get her sight back- they messed up her eye injection.

11. My uncle died. Also I was listed in the obit as his special niece, and that made my theatre boss ask if he was really my father. Which was weird and made me hate him more than I already did.

12. I somehow lost all taste for food. I was treated for acid reflux and it seems better, but I can't look at an egg without wanting to vomit because I ate too many eggs earlier in the year.

13. I have had some sort of runny nose/sinus thing since October

14. I think I might have broken a piece of one of my molars, but it doesn't hurt anymore and I wanted to wait until there was more money in my HSA

15. I am still paying off the $1,500 deductible for my insurance, and I accidentally paid too much, so the weekend of Christmas until the 30th, I only had $20 and it was difficult. I could have paid it way earlier, but I am horrible and didn't even want to look at the bills because I was in so much denial.

16. Also, I think my cat is 22 and going to die soon. Or the people I got her from didn't tell me her correct age.

17. My mother is super more depressed than usual and so hard to talk to when I am also depressed, but I kind of think she is going to die soon too, so I try to call her every other day.

As the year comes to a close, I have barely spoken to this new assistant administrator, and I don't understand what his job is, but he seems nice. I haven't tried hard to connect because I might be getting a promotion and wouldn't report to him any more. But apparently no matter how big of a promotion (the original idea was 5 grades), apparently the university can only give at most a 10% raise (which for me is $4,000), but I would have to quit the theatre (where I make $12,000) to go back to school and get a master's in online education. So I am torn.

Hmm. That was actually cathartic. I know I am a lucky

Wow, Sophia, I didn't realize all you've gone through this year.

That's a lot.

I always keep in mind the rough point system that some therapists used to use assigning major points for Loss of Spouse, less for Loss of Job, Some for Personal Illness etc. With the idea that any accumulation of three or four or those major hits in a year was going to be extremely stressful.

You've been under a tremendous amount of stress. That would make most people depressed.

Not trying to emphasize the negative, but acknowledge how MUCH you've dealt with.

I think David is right, Sophia. If you feel like you have the weight of the world is on your shoulders, I couldn't blame you.

Yeah, dag, that's a lot!

Do you have a Warby Parker in the area? Their eye exams are reasonably priced and they will give you your prescription so you don't have to buy glasses from them if you don't want.

Thanks for the affirmation that it was a lot- thanks for the rec Gud- I will check and try that next time!- I didn't know it would cost that much until I got the bill! It was $900, and then I got a discount for being insured don't to $400. Apparently I got charged more because it was a "diabetic" eye exam to make sure I didn't have I damage. I didn't.

If there's no Warby Parker, there's also Eyemart Express (which also operate under the names Eyewear Express, Vision4Less and VisionMart Express). I always get my cheapie backup glasses from them, since our insurance only covers 1 set of frames/lenses.

I've been quite happy with glasses from zenni.com that cost about $25. If your exam is from someone who'll provide the prescription without requiring you to buy their glasses, it's pretty easy to enter the info in their website.