A positive update.

Pickle the Kitten gets cozy in her new digs.

We all know what a lousy year I’ve had. Divorce, basement flooding, a break-in, getting laid off alongside a bunch of other talented folks, selling my house, moving … and that is literally just scratching the surface. I could go on and on. I even noticed my hair is noticeably thinning and balding in odd places since July, and I can only guess it’s due to the physical effect stress has had on my body.

But a few weeks ago, things really started to turn around. I guess I had to hit the lowest of low points before I could start rising again. In fact, this whole thing made me realize how much the arcs of my life and my dad’s life match, as far as rising really high and then getting knocked down. And, like my dad, as daunting as things seemed (and for a spell there they were rather dire) there was no choice but to keep moving forward. Eventually things would work themselves out, just as long as we didn’t give up.

And things are getting better.

I like my new apartment. I still need to actually start hanging stuff on the walls and making it feel more like a home, but it suits my purposes. It’s big and can hold everything I own (I'm using a back bedroom as a “storage room” as well as holding the one drum kit I have set up). And Pickle the Kitten is constantly roaming and exploring. Or sitting in really weird places, as if she’s been laying in wait just to surprise me. The place is literally across the street and a few doors down from my old house, and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about that, but I really like the neighborhood and the close proximity to the Blue Line. It makes my commute so much easier.

Wait! did I say commute?! Oh yes I did!

I started a new job today. It took me almost six months—the longest I’ve been out of work since 2002—but I finally found an agency I gelled with. Let me tell you; interviewing nowadays can be frustrating. Most places make you go through multiple rounds of interviews and then ghost on you. I actually interviewed with my current employer earlier this summer and they didn’t have a place for me then. But when one opened up a few months later they actually reached out to see if I was interested in coming in again and speaking to a few other folks. And then they hired me! Perseverance pays off!

If you’ve ever been job hunting you know places say “we’ll keep you in mind if something else comes up” and then promptly delete your name from their brain. But this agency actually did keep me in mind when something else came up! I have a very good feeling about this place.

There’s other good stuff happening as far as personal relationships go, but I don’t think you need to hear about that. Let’s just say new relationships are blooming and old relationships are naturally healing as best they can. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

So yeah, it’s been an exceptionally rough year. Easily the worst year in my life. And it might seem hokey, but I’m kinda thinking God might’ve put me through all this for a reason, because when the clouds did finally part, it happened pretty suddenly and all at once.*

So here’s to tomorrow!


*We all know I’m not a religious person, but this year and the way it rolled really did make me start to wonder. A the very least I way overpaid whatever debt to bad karma I’d accrued over the decades!