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In my previous post, I mentioned how rough 2021 was for me on a personal level and as a writer. It’s a wonder how I survived it with my sanity intact, and I’m truly grateful for the victories I celebrated and continue to appreciate. Every year has its ups and downs, and I’m certainly not alone in my experiences. It seems like the last three years have been more like one ongoing year we can’t wait to see in the rear view mirror. All the more reason to treasure the awesome moments that will undoubtedly crop up from time to time.

Just a few short months before the pandemic began to dominate the news, I met the woman who would become the love of my life. Of course, I didn’t know it immediately. It took a few weeks for it to become obvious that I had found someone unbelievably special. As we spent more time together, I only grew to appreciate how lucky I was to have met her. A string of unlikely and fortunate events propelled us together, and what a blessing it has been.

In May of 2021, I asked her to marry me. It was something I knew I wanted since early in our relationship. At the time we met, I thought I might never remarry. The prospects of repeating the past and experiencing that kind of pain made me reluctant to even contemplate marriage again. In a letter I wrote her only six weeks after we’d met, I explained how easily I had fallen in love with her, and how unexpectedly I wanted us to get married. There was only excitement and gratitude when I looked forward to a long life together. I never sent the letter. I cautioned myself that I was acting rashly. Surely revealing those feelings would terrify her, so I held onto it. Within a couple of weeks, she told me that she never would have expected she would want to get married after dating someone for such a short period of time. I ran to get the letter from where I’d hidden it, so I could show her what it said and when I had composed it.

Of course, we didn’t elope on the spot. Life isn’t a Nicholas Sparks novel. There were our kids to consider, distance between us, homes, dogs. Life delivers challenges that romance novels don’t, and we were determined to be responsible parents. It didn’t stop us from joking about running away to somewhere tropical until we had maxed out our credit cards. We took advantage of time together where we could get it. It never seemed like enough. Then COVID came along, and we realized how lucky we’d been to have so much time together at the beginning of our relationship. There were so many people who weren’t so fortunate, and dating was something COVID had rendered impossible for millions of people to experience safely.

We spent time apart, using Zoom and FaceTime, and even a hilarious attempt at watching a movie together from separate houses. COVID date nights left a lot to be desired. Being apart was excruciating. The progress our relationship had made over its first few months threatened to slowly unravel, but we were determined. We toughed it out for the promise of a future together.

That future is here.

Less than two months after our engagement, I lost my bestest puppy, Clover. She had been a source of love and comfort to me through some rough times. I’m afraid she was the kind of dog you only enjoy once in a lifetime. The grief I felt at my decision to end her pain was something I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Fortunately, I had a lot of support during those first dark weeks, and the healing slowly began. Instrumental in this recovery was a quirky, flatulent, sweet little mutt, who is now part of my daily life.

After securing a new place to rent, I reveled in the knowledge that I would leave an apartment community I had grown to detest. Goodbye, Garbage Mountain and perpetually broken trash compactor. Goodbye secondhand marijuana smoke. Goodbye gun violence, package thieves, and diaper-littered pool. I promptly found a house that was perfect for my new fiancée and all of our kids. 2021 gave me another blessing, along with a future father-in-law that can help me fix it. (OK, I’ll be helping him help me.) I swiftly cancelled my rental application, and after some moving complications, I can look forward to quarantining with my fiancée in 2022.

With a quiet place to live, I’m hopeful my writing will benefit. I look forward to a new start and rejuvenated writing aspirations.

A happy New Year to all of you! I hope it is a healthy one, full of what makes you happy and fulfilled.

What are you happily anticipating from 2022? Did 2021 bring you things that fill you with gratitude? Let me know in a comment.