It’s been a long year, but I can’t believe that it’s over so soon!
I start out every January, just as everything is settling back down after the Holidays, by turning another year older. Or is it another year closer to having to renew my driver’s license? Anyway…
I turned 26 whole years old in 2008. It wasn’t quite the crisis that 25 was for me. Yes, I had a 25-year crisis. Leave me alone.
In February, I lost one of the people I loved most on this planet. My grandfather passed away. He was 92 years old. His was the first funeral that my daughter attended. She loved her Great-Grandpa so completely and I’m thankful that she has so many good memories of him. My aunt, who lived with my grandpa, passed grandpa’s set of Dominoes on to Pax, which meant a lot to her. She and grandpa spent hours playing Dominoes together when we took care of him. We still miss him, but we know he was ready to go and accept that. He won’t be forgotten.
March was better. My 4th surrogate baby made her appearance on the 20th. She weighed 6lbs 12oz and was more beautiful than any of us could have imagined. And I was once again amazed at how much bigger one’s heart can get when you add a new member to your family. I will never stop being in awe of what an incredible experience surrogacy is.
April and May passed rather uneventfully. Pax and I went out to LA in late May/early June to visit my surro-babe and her dads. We had a lot of fun, and I visited too many yarn stores. Nah, just brought too much of them home! A trip to one started my new love affair with lace-weight yarn, even though I’ve yet to complete a lace-weight project… But I digress.
In July I took classes and started a new job as the Surrogate Advocate Representative for New Life Agency. They specialize in insurance policies for Assisted Reproduction (egg donation, surrogacy). It’s been a lot of fun and I enjoy getting to talk to our surrogates and support them in their journeys. Even if all of my new-found knowledge of the insurance system in this country make me want to run away to some foreign land with Socialized medicine.
July 11th, my darling daughter turned 7 years old. I think she’s growing too fast. Anyone know a way to make that stop?
August and September were spent trying to juggle a full load at school and a full-time job. And somehow I managed.
I also managed a quick trip out to Vegas where my friend was getting married. My friend is transgendered and was participating in a documentary which aired 12/28/08. It is titled Born in the Wrong Body: Tying the Knot. This clip shows me helping the bride get ready and showcases my mad crochet skillz. Pax had a great time. I never want to go to Vegas ever again. That city will kill a person!
At the end of September, I got a phone call letting me know that Luci had died. My sister. She had a 4 year old son, who she loved more than anything else. Luci was only a year older than me. It was hard to understand how she could just go to bed one night and not wake up in the morning. Tragic, would be an appropriate, if cliche, word. Our family was heartbroken. I was heartbroken. Friends who knew Luci were heartbroken. And I think we always will be. Her death was so unnecessary. Her son is currently being raised by Luci’s mother and her husband. I know that is where Luci would want her son to be. They go to court soon to get permanent custody (perhaps to legally adopt him, but I’m not certain about that). Any positive energy or prayers you could spare for that to happen would be greatly appreciated. I won’t bad-mouth people I do not personally know here, but everything I do know about his father and other grandparents only confirms that her son is right where he should be.
In late October, my cousin from California and her partner came to visit for the first time in about 25 years. After my last surrogate baby was born, I mentioned to my mom that my intended father hadn’t told his grandmother he was gay and now had to tell grandma that he was gay and had a baby (Grandma has since found out and totally accepting – Go, Grandma!). My mom then told me that my cousin (who I think I’d met once when I was about 4 years old) had written to my grandmother wanting to come visit with her partner. She never came, so, my mother explained, she could only assume that my grandmother wasn’t particularly kind. I took it on as a project. My cousin had moved to CA with her mom and sister shortly after her father died. I lost my father when I was fairly young and couldn’t imagine growing up without knowing all of the stories of his hijinx and being around the people who loved him. I decided that if my grandmother was going to be a cow about her being gay, then I was going to find her and let her know that we weren’t all of the bovine persuasion. I eventually tracked her down on Facebook (yes, with all of it’s evils, it can be good for something!). I explained to her who I was, why I decided to write to her (hello, my support of the gay community clearly goes to the extreme), and let her know that if she wanted to come visit that the rest of the family would be happy to have her here. So, they came. My grandmother was even on her best behavior.
Pax was a moon for Halloween. Sometimes, I don’t understand that kid. I think she just likes to see if I can actually creat the costume ideas she comes up with. But it was awesome. And everyone who asked was seriously impressed that a kid her age could come up with something creative! So, I walked my moon about amongst all of the Hannah Montanas, Disney Princesses, and Transformers, secretly giddy with pride.
Just as we were all recovering from Luci’s passing and getting back into the swing of things in our regular lives, Tom, a dear family friend of many years, was found in his home by his girlfriend. He’d taken his rifle out of storage on Halloween and sat down to clean it for an upcoming hunting trip that weekend. Apparently the rifle was still loaded from his last trip and he didn’t realize it. He shot himself through the heart. It took a couple of days to discover his body – but it was apparent that something was wrong when he didn’t show up to take his 8 year old daughter Trick-or-Treating as he had promised (she lives in another town with her mom so they were unable to go check, and apparently it took the police a couple days to go into the house). Tom was a kind man who loved his daughter (and mine). He and his (now ex) wife lived next door to my mom for 8 years. They had their daughter just two weeks after I’d found out I was pregnant with Pax. Our girls have grown up together. I still remember Tom coming to the house a couple days after Pax was born, looking me directly in the eye, and saying with all sincerity, “She is a gift from God.” While I’m not terribly religious, I understood the meaning. And I’ve always been convinced of the fact that Pax was meant to be with me. Tom just realized it, too. I took Pax to his funeral because his daughter asked her to come. I think it was a comfort to her to have her friend there with her. I know it was a comfort to me when my father passed to have my friends come.
November and December had lots more family events. My cousin Michael and his beautiful bride Maida came from Brazil to visit for Thanksgiving and it is always a pleasure to see them. Michael’s brother, Matt, came from California as well. It was nice to see him, too.
A couple weeks later, my friend Heather and I took the last two kittens I had to sell down to the buyer in Oklahoma. I think they’ve found themselves a wonderful home. We took our daughters as well and on our way back from meeting the buyer we went to the Omniplex Science Museum in OKC. The kids had a blast and since Heather and I were such awesome moms all day, we stopped off in Guthrie on the way home. They were having some sort of winter festival and they have a pretty nice yarn store. I figured we deserved it.
The next day was my mother’s family’s Holiday gathering and I had a nice time chatting with the few people in the family I like (it seems there are a few to like and many to be indifferent about). I had our immediate family’s Holiday party at the clubhouse at my complex, which went well, a week later. Christmas Eve, Pax and I loaded up and headed South to a Holiday Fiesta at Luci’s mother’s house. My little brother, Drew, had called to invite us. It is always a pleasure to hang out with Drew since he is one of my favorite people. Pax and I did our thing on Christmas morning (she wins Best Kid Ever award this year) and then went to Mom’s for breakfast.
We were invited to my aunt’s house for Christmas dinner (which in Kansas means lunch). We went. And she pulled out a couple of boxes of my grandfather’s things for us to go through and see if there was anything we wanted. I found my grandpa’s copy of the Key of Heaven, a Catholic prayer book. I have my father’s copy, which he gave me one day for no reason and I sat aside (I’m not, nor have I ever been, Catholic). I’d come across it one day just shy of the 10 year anniversary of his death and had the cross on the front tattooed on my foot. So it was really nice to also be able to have my grandfather’s copy as well. They’re currently sitting on the bookshelf, side-by-side, oddly right next to my small Goddess Blessing Bowl that holds the first rock my child ever picked up off the ground and gave to me as a “present”. I figure they’d be okay with that.
So, all of this has contributed to the lack of blogging since I started this one. Well, that, and I’m far more used to the more personal approach to blogging and less a topic-based blogger. But I’m trying.
Here are my Resolutions for the 2009 in regards to fibery-crafts:
I have been doing some crafting lately, but, um, I’m also easily distracted.
I did finish one hat. It was a test-knit for Twist. Shelly, the owner, wants to sell it as kits. The handspun for the top is super cool and it is Pax’s new favorite hat ever.
I made myself a scarf and finished my mom’s as a birthday present from last year a couple days ago (her birthday was yesterday and I gave it to her – along with something else for this year, don’t worry!). But I forgot to get pictures of both. And the rest are just WIPs. I’ve given myself some deadlines, though, so hopefully there will be much more to blog about soon! Including some photos of my first foray into knitting lace. And, no, I don’t think I picked a particularly easy pattern, but that’s the way I roll. And, hey! It involves Sundara FSM. Delicious, no?
Oh, speaking of FSM, I do want to give a quick shout out to Erin over at Eat.Sleep.Knit. She sent me a small ball of FSM to test-drive recently (before I’d gotten any and was trying to decide if Iwanted to get any of the Year in Color). It was lovely! How many yarn store owners enable their customers with yarn they don’t carry? Not too many, I’d say, which makes her all the more awesome. She does carry tons of amazing yarns, though, so if you are in need of a yarn fix, I highly recommend ESK. But beware the Yarnathon… It’s basically more addictive than heroin or really good wine.
Next post sometime this week. So stay tuned. I’m gonna show off some of the new “toys” I’ve picked up recently.
