December 30, 2003
The Year in Review
List your year in review according to month. Well, this isn't exactly month to month but:
Recurring themes throughout the year: struggle with weight loss and writer?s block and blending family issues! Over the year, I see-sawed up and down the weight scale. It's been a frustrating experience, particularly since I am now fighting high blood pressure, borderline diabetes and debilitating aches and pains in my joints. I had several false starts with stories over the last year and it got to the point where I just didn't want to write anything at all. The 'blending' issues haven't all been resolved ... yet.
In January, 2003 there was a fierce debate on my widow support board about whether or not a war in Iraq was justifiable or moral. All I really remember about it is a feeling of deep frustration. I felt that we should have proof (the smoking gun) that Saddam Hussein had ?weapons of mass destruction? and I felt we should have backing from the United Nations. Other people felt as I did. The folks who were gung-ho behind President Bush and invasion called us traitors and what-have-you. Sometime in the spring, I just about gave up posting on that board at all. I didn?t see that my posting served any useful purpose to me anymore.
TB was injured on the job. There wasn?t enough office work and so he was sent into the shop the previous fall. This particular day, he was banging some really heavy sheet metal and felt a ripping sensation in his arm. He had to go through a bunch of rigamorole before the insurance company finally sent him for an MRI that confirmed his rotator cuff was torn.
I had these two little pressure sores under my tummy ?apron? and so my weight was on my mind a lot too. I had to see a doctor for my social security claim and I was horrified at how much I weighed! Right about then, I began to watch what I ate and during the next six weeks, I lost 10 pounds.
I was journaling away in the beginning of February when I heard a news flash that the space shuttle Columbia had gone missing on its way back to Earth. The shuttle exploded on re-entry and the entire crew was killed.
I sort of looked back at things I?d written in January and it seemed like I was doing a lot of creative thinking and remembering. I was worrying and posting anxieties a lot because I wasn?t writing much more than journal entries about memories and the cute adventures of my pets.
The threat of war continued and terrorist alerts were implemented. It seemed to me that President Bush was bound and determined to make a war on Iraq and Saddam Hussein. I kept wondering what happened to our efforts to find Osama bin Laden, the real bad guy?
We went into Iraq in the spring. We had as much luck finding Hussein then as we did bin Laden. The war was over almost as quickly as it began but the killing of American soldiers had just begun.
During the spring, I tried to get a New Jersey driving license. It should have been an easy process but it ended up being the bureaucracy from hell. I couldn?t believe how hard it was to transfer my title from NY to NJ and how almost impossible it was to get that damn license. The whole experience nearly put me in a mental hospital.
Elizabeth Smart is a kid who was kidnapped right out of her home during the summer of 2002 ( I think?) and then she was ?found? during the spring of 2003 right under the noses of her community. She had to wear a veil over her face and traveled around with these two nuts who?d brainwashed her.
TB had surgery for his shoulder in April and he came through really well. Post op was hard but then he got past that all right and was doing great until June ? and then he tore his rotator cuff again after trying out a new exercise in physical therapy. His second surgery was in October and he is still recovering. He?s being a lot more cautious with his shoulder this time around.
My dear friend and sister of the heart, Elfie, was coming to visit us in June. She was going to stay 10 days but almost on the day she was to arrive, she called to say she had to have emergency surgery to remove a cancer. It was a great shock to me to think she could be so fine one day and so sick the next. She?s had two additional surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy since. I am praying that she will be well enough to visit us next summer.
Michelle and Linda both announced their pregnancies but sadly, Michelle lost her baby when she was about 4 months along. Linda is due in February 2004. Michelle and David?s new used van was struck from behind and totaled. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. Sometime after Thanksgiving, they bought a home in Tennessee and will be moving there after January.
One of my little stories was ?published? online by a e-zine. I was inspired and sent out other stories to other magazines as well as inquiries to publishers and agents. I was turned down by every one but I don?t think that contributed to my block. I'm not sure what my problem is but the more I try to figure it out the more blocked I seem to get.
There was a bomb scare at the high school. It turned out to be a stupid hoax but it sure showed off how unprepared the school systems are in dealing with emergencies. There was chaos and delays and more confusion. I drove to the junior high school to pick up Billy and Heidi after a surreptitious call from a pay phone (no one wanted to let the kids use the phones). I was shocked at the sight of kids milling around on the school grounds. It didn?t look like anyone was in charge, not even the cop in the street! :P
Saddam Hussein was finally captured! We still don?t know where Osama bin Laden is ? and the killing pf American soldiers continues in Iraq. I think this is our Viet Nam of this century. 
Noted celebrity passings: Katharine Hepburn, Mr. Rogers, Art Carney, Bob Hope, Johnny Cash, and John Ritter. I know that there were more but these were the ones that made an impact on me.
And I turned 49 this year. And so it goes.
New Year's Trivia:
Did you know that celebrating the New Year possibly is the oldest holiday in recorded history originating from the ancient Babylonians, 4000 years ago.
The Babylonians also began the tradition of New Years resolutions as a way to start the new year on a clean slate by returning borrowed gifts.
Using a newborn baby to represent the new year is believed to originate in ancient Greece around 600 B.C. January 1st officially became the first day of the new year when Julius Caesar introduced the Julian Calendar in 46 B.C.
--from Care2