This year seemed to start off rocky for us, so I felt prepared for anything the second half of the year which went pretty smooth from my recollection. Sometimes I can't even remember yesterday so, the whole year has been...a lot.
First, the good stuff, concerts concerts concerts. I'm counting at least 14 shows, with over 50 bands, not including the amazing 3 days of Riot Fest. Three of the shows were bucket-list bands for me: Madness, Save Ferris and Fall Out Boy. I wasn't sure we'd ever see Madness as they rarely leave England these days, so we took an impromptu trip to Seattle to see them when I saw they had a few dates in the States. Save Ferris is touring again, yay! I have always wanted to see Monique Powell perform live and she didn't disappoint. Lastly, I'd just not gotten around to seeing Fall Out Boy in the early days so having them as a headliner for Riot Fest made me feel like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I also took a bonus solo trip in October for an I Voted for Kodos reunion show in Madison and LOTS of catching up and reconnecting in person with they guys. It's so good to see them playing again.
I started and finished my first ever commission for one of my word-based weavings for the First Baptist Church of Ann Arbor. I used part of the money from being paid for "Yes, And" to purchase a Baby Macomber loom whom I've named Monique. I now officially have all the looms I need at this point in my life. Monique will be great for sampling, workshops and smaller pieces.
As far as projects, I'm working on a new larger word piece, I finished another small weaving earlier this year, helped Sherri (my fibers professor and mentor) figure out a sample for an ancient Peruvian double cloth, knit 5 pairs of taller socks, 2 hats and 2 tops. Of course there was plenty of beading in there, "Golden Boundary" won a second place at the Michigan League of Handweavers Biennial Exhibit and had been my mantra for much of the year.
I taught enough hours at Convergence Conference this year to get some of my hotel room paid for. I also had a great roomie and made sure to introduce myself to weavers that I admire, in the past I've been a bit too shy, I'm thankful to start getting over that anxiety.
I installed my first exterior door (an reinstalled the storm door) and it went much better than I expected it to. I talk about it every day at work, it was nice to put what I've learned into action. That was my only largish house project. I wasn't really outside much, I was inspired to be in the studio more this year. The gardens and weeds will all be there next year. I do need to get back to my door fence soon though, my door collection is taking up far too much of the garage.
Side house projects remind me to learn and play. I started spinning coffee filters and stitching over knit stash yarn using some different techniques and materials.
Well, you've made it reading this far, to the rough stuff...we had the emotional roller-coaster of finding out we were pregnant and then coping with a miscarriage. It's the first time anything like this has happened to me/us and I'm so lucky to have Bryan with me to navigate these sorts of life situations. There was this extreme joy and excitement and then the drop into intense loss. We're doing ok. I have a great support system and even signed on for some therapy sessions to address it when I (finally) realized it hit me harder than I thought.
We lost Morgan, Bryan's cat of 21 years and me being his stepmom for almost 8 of those years. I've never had to be part of making the tough decision of putting an animal down, we didn't want to, and held off for maybe too long. Our vet was compassionate, sincere, and repeatedly assured us that Morgan had lived a very good, very long life for a cat.
The Universal Cat Distribution System seemed to know we would be down to 2 cats and moved Bruce in under out front porch 2 months before we lost Morgan. We think Bruce had been someone's kitten who had gotten kicked out, he came to us with his paws all ripped up, skinny, awkward, but super friendly. Once we had the vet check him out that he was ok to be around the other cats we moved him in. He's been a joy and a pain in the butt since he's still a kitten and getting into everything. We're glad to have him and so is Clark, who is his play-buddy. Lois hates him, we hope that levels out eventually.
All in all, we've had a really good year despite losses, which are part of life. Bryan and I have been together 8 years, married for 2 and it's flown by so fast it hardly seems like we've been together for very long. On my drive into my AA meeting this morning a Harry Chapin song came up on my iPod called "Let Time Go Lightly" and life with Bryan has been a lot lighter and way more fun.
