October Reflections: 2019

Four years ago I wrote a post titled “Another Year Wiser?” in which I revealed to my friends and family that I had started a blog. It was also my birthday hence the reference in the title. Each year since I’ve written a post at this same time of the year in which I reflect on the year that has just passed and muse about the year to come. So that means it’s again my birthday and I’m doing some reflecting, going back to the beginning.

For the 2016 post, I had made a concerted effort to publish 100 posts. As of today’s post, my published count is 250. Obviously, my publishing pace has dropped a bit since that first year but hopefully, the quality of my content offsets the quantity. I have lots of ideas for topics and content, just not the time for photos and writing. Soon enough though, my schedule will free up.

By the time October 2017 had rolled around, our daughter had graduated from college (YAY!) but my mother had passed and I’d become a breast cancer warrior. Fortunately, my breast cancer had been caught early and much of my reflections two years ago were on that topic. More about my diagnosis can be found in these posts; My World Has Changed: In Real Life, My World Has Changed: In Real Life (Part 2), and Remembering The Details: A Sum Of Parts. Knock on wood, my annual checks since have shown no sign of lingering or returning cancer. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t put out the reminder to those with breasts to get them checked.

It was in early 2017 that I’d decided to “ditch the dye” and let my silvers grow out. Some may think that my going gray was related to the breast cancer diagnosis but that’s not the case. Although, if I hadn’t started the grow-out before I probably would have after. Transitioning is not easy, it takes a lot of patience (or a lot of money if professional assistance is sought). It wasn’t until I was about a year in and had a second short haircut that my inner struggles began. I’m working on a post about my trials where I will share more on this subject.  Spoiler alert … I’m very pleased to have stuck it out and my hair is nearly back to its former length.  I get compliments from random strangers (young, old, female, male, and everyone in between) on my hair all the time.

A year later in 2018, my reflections also included more medical concerns (but not cancer related) and the death of my mother-in-law. It had been another difficult year but there had been a few bright spots that helped to balance against the challenges.

Given the challenges faced in the prior two years, the year since last October has been a fairly easy one although busy.  The biggest change has been buying a new home and moving to an area about an hour away from where The Husband and I had lived for most of our lives.   In a recent post, Then & Now: Out With The Old, I shared about the place where we had been living and the remodel we had done when we originally bought that place. We bought our current place last November and have done a significant remodel on it as well.  The post on that effort will be coming out in November.

Much of the past year has evolved around that remodel and our settling into our new community. We mostly no longer need to use Waze for directions to get around (woohoo). A miles wide beach is a short walking distance away and there’s little better than watching as the sun sets into the ocean.  I’d contemplated a rebranding of this blog (mostly in name and aesthetics) but that’s on hold until I have more time to devote to it. In addition to all that, our son graduated from college and has returned to the nest for the time being. I’m really enjoying having him under the same roof again. He’s working part-time and looking for a full-time job.

Looking forward, in the next year I’ll be retiring after over 35 years with my employer. I anticipate that travel will begin to be a recurring post topic as will crafting projects and perhaps experimentations in the kitchen. Next October, I will celebrate my “Beddian“ birthday (age same as last two digits of birth year).  I may have a thing or two to say about that as well.

For a bit of chuckle, I’ve got a photo of myself in my sparkly pineapple t-shirt from August of 2016 to share in a side-by-side comparison with today.  I threw together the outfit for this post on a whim … mostly to show off my yellow trainers.  They were an impulse buy when I spied them on the clearance rack at my local Macy’s one night a few weeks ago.   They’re uber-comfy (Grammarly prompted me to add the hyphen, LOL) and a perfect way to add a punch of color to a Fall look.  So I grabbed my kick flares (a thrift store find from a couple of years ago) and my utility jacket but then got stuck for a top.  I almost opted for the yellow one I wore in Spring Pattern Mixing – Magnificent 8 Collaboration and then I remembered the pineapple. Oh, how she shines!

That’s a wrap on this year’s reflections.  One last thought on this and future birthdays comes from a quote by Satchel Paige,

“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”

Let’s connect! Subscribe, tweet, follow, friend, love, pin … all options are available and waiting for you. I look forward to hearing from you. And if you’re so inclined, you can still join the link-up from last Saturday’s Garden Spot: Pumpkin Spice & Link-Up post.

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