It's Ticker Time

At my other blog, I wrote the following post Teddy Bear Ticker, about the days remaining until Christmas, 38 days as of today. This year I am in more of a Christmas spirit than I was last year.

A little background (and keep in mind recommended stress levels).

Last year, 2005, was the year from hell. My beloved Mother had become ill in late 2004, and passed away in March. There was a tumultuous amount of paperwork to be done to settle the estate. We needed to pack up and clean out her apartment, and get things in order.

In April, we decided to put our house on the market, and move further out of town. The real estate market was pretty good, and we did well. So we packed everything up and moved at the end of May.

A week after we moved in, My Sweetie had a scope on his knee, which was meant purely to clean things up, but his knee had presented other problems, so they booked him for surgery and sent him home.....to worry.

At the end of June, My Sweetie lost his job, and the company car. At the same time, my work was going through some trying times, so we were both on a roller coaster ride going somewhere unknown.

In July, we took some vacation time on the boat, but the time was pretty screwed up due to pre-op physio appointments.

In August, My Sweetie had knee surgery, and ended up with 18 staples and a post-op
infection resulting in nurses coming to see him for a week to change his dressing and administer IV drugs.

Come September, My Sweetie had enrolled in a 1-year program at the nearby College, designed for people with degrees. So, for the first day of school, he hobbled on his crutches (getting himself to school in his beater car).

The things started to look up. My Sweetie had settled into school, and was doing quite well, when a blast from his past contacted him with a job opportunity. We had to think about a few things of course.....continue with school or take the job. He made the right choice in taking the job, and has never looked back in regret. My work situation also improved significantly.

We had been pretty much on-the-go with everything that happened, and by all counts both of us should have been hanging from a bridge with a noose around our necks! It was very hard to be around the so-called Christmas spirit in all of the retail establishments. I had no interest in doing cards (and I only sent to people who managed to find us). We didn't even put a tree up.

With that, we had decided early on that we would put Christmas on hold for once, and runaway...to Mexico...which was absolutely amazing. Maybe it appeared heartless, and uncaring, and maybe it was, but we needed that time to heal, and give our heads a much needed rest.

Last night, I bought my first Christmas present. Things continue to look up.