Didn't you also, you know, MAKE YOUR OWN GUITAR?

I swear, it followed me home.

I don't know what to say about this year, so I'll just say the highlights have involved several of you, which says a lot about how much I enjoy the friends I've made through this site.

Bi-annual control-freak worry that my Santee's gift will get lost. It just has a long trip to make, though.

I got my Secret Santa present a bit ago and posted on FB but I realized I should post here.

Thank you Santa!! I got really yummy cookies that I shared and were a hit with dad. The sea salt caramels I tried but then I am having dental work so those are for later. And I love the dragonfly lights and the earrings!!

Also my year in review:have been rocking my job and gaining confidence I had lost and realised how much I had lost and how long I had been losing it.

I've been dating an awesome guy for almost a year and a half. It's probably the healthiest relationship I've been in. We have some differences but we talk through things and he is emotionally available in ways that my previous boyfriends haven't been. He also lives an hour from here in South Carolina and down the mountain. Which means I'm spending alot of time down there usually my week here and weekends there. It is taking a toll especially when the weather is bad like this and I don't go down.

So. In a few weeks I'm going to talk to my manager about transferring to a store down that way and move in with him. It's a big step but I'm ready and he has been ready and just waiting for me to be ready. There are more job opportunities there and honestly I feel like that area is more home.

I also had to have a root canal and I'm getting a bridge. I've gone from 3 years ago when I couldn't get through a cleaning without having an anxiety attack to almost falling asleep when they were prepping my teeth for the bridge work.

I've made so much progress in the past few years. In the past I've made changes but it was superficial and couldn't be lasting change because I didnt know what needed to be changed and now I do so I can. The biggest change is self acceptance and learning to be nice to myself and liking myself.

Sorry if this is disjointed.

I'm so glad you like you, askye! I sure do!

For me, 2018 was The Year Everything Changed.

As eras don't follow the calendar precisely (did the 2000s as a cultural era begin before 9/12/2001?), my 2018 began on 11/6/2017. If you recall the 2017 thread, that was the day I had my nervous breakdown. Which led to 2 days in the hospital, 6 days in the psych ward, and 2 weeks of partial hospitalization. Also joining 2 support groups.

Early in the year, Hubs bonded with a young man, Leo, in a surrogate father-son relationship. Leo moved in with us and, after much drama, moved out. I avoided most of the drama by being out of the room most of the time.

Through all of this, I was experiencing numbness in my feet that made walking more difficult. The cause was a ruptured disc, which meant back surgery at the end of April. Still a lot of numbness, still using a cane, occasional fall (by literally tripping over my own feet).

As a byproduct of the back surgery, I now have a beard. I couldn't shave while I was in the hospital. And people liked the new look, so I kept it.

And now the biggest change. Through all the mental health work, I realized how much verbal abuse I had been taking in my marriage. As the year went on, Hubs kept getting worse. So in late August, I left him and took the cats. After a few days in a hotel and a temporary stay in a furnished apartment, I moved into a longer-term apartment a couple of weeks ago. (If you're familiar with DC/Northern Virginia, it's in the Tysons Corner area.)

The apartment is a work in progress. The kitchen and bathrooms are just about in complete. The rest is still pretty empty, although I do have a bed. I've also bought a TV and some furniture that should be delivered soon. I plan to search the after-Christmas sales for a desk and chair for a home office. And I have another cat tree to assemble. Once that's done, and the rest of the boxes are removed, the apartment will be livable. Not where I want it eventually, but where I can live comfortably.

The cats are adjusting reasonably well. Coco has been undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancer for more than a year, and the tumor isn't growing. (It isn't shrinking, either.) His 13th birthday was on Thanksgiving, and he's going strong even if he is starting to look like an Old Man Cat.

Hubs wants to reconcile. I've told my therapist and my attorney that I'd need to be comfortable that the abuse won't happen again before I'd even consider it.

Finally, I became eligible to retire in September. I'm still working for now for several reasons. It builds up my pension and retirement savings. If I retire while still married, I have to take a cut in my pension for a surviving spouse benefit after I die. On the mental health front, with all the changes going on, continuing to work maintains an area of stability in my life. (Some of my co-workers are confused at the last point -- the Powers That Be here are looking at reorganizing the Department early next year. But it's stable in the sense that I get up, go to the same place, do much the same thing -- and I doubt that any reorganization will change that.)

Oh my goodness, Fred Pete! That is a lot. It sounds like you are making good choices for yourself right now, so I hope that continues and the things outside your control go your way. Hugs.

Oh man, Fred! Here's hoping the coming year is more settled and better.

Wow—that's a lot, Fred. I'm glad you were able to move forward with the changes you needed. And I hope 2019 is a better year.

Fred, that is so much upset and turmoil for a year. It really does sound like you are getting things under control and taking much better care of your physical and emotional health. I agree that continuing working really does add a great deal of stability to life. May 2019 be free from excess drama.