A Lot Can Happen In A Year.

A little over a year ago David and I once again packed up two cats, one dog, a pile of yarn and guns - all of our earthly  belongings and drove 6 hours to Garards Fort PA. It was one of the smoothest moves we've ever made - more or less. The unexpected selling of the E. Stroudsburg house had us scrambling - the expected 2 month closing was suddenly a 25 day closing - but overall not a bad thing. A lot has happened in a year. I came back to Interim - how strange to start a new job with old friends! The house was - and still is - wonderful but we had the usual surprises. The furnace that worked for a good 45 minutes in a limping fashion, that developed a death rattle, coughed and went to the Other Side. The new stove with the little light that wouldn't go out - and the day of my first guests were coming for dinner  the (new) repairman came to make it turn off and managed to explode the new stove.  I mean it - whole thing was gone, smoke, sparks, the whole nine yards. And just as I suspected, it is really funny now. David restarted his renovation business after finishing the renovations on our house and has been going great guns since we got here. I joined Weight Watchers and managed to lose almost 40 lbs - and better yet keep it off. My knitting continues of course - David built me floor to ceiling shelves upstairs for my books with a storage area for yarn -  it's one of the best things I've ever owned!! Our older son Adam left the Navy after almost 10 years and the younger son Jackson took a field trip to Afghanistan. And came back - better yet! Our cat Vincent went into kidney failure and weirdly enough - recovered. Claw remains the same nasty pile of fur and shows no signs of going anywhere near the Rainbow Bridge. We added a puppy to the mix 6 months ago, Reuben who appears to be constructed entirely of Trouble and Pee - but a lovely boy overall. Pearl who is glad to finally have a friend was diagnosed with lymphoma and is terminal, something I still cannot believe is happening to my sweet girl. We'll get through it - but I cannot even write these words without tearing up.  Life is not fair we all know, but it's a fact we can't always deal with gracefully. However, it's a part of our existence, isn't it - and hopefully Pearl and I will meet again.  David has taken a break with the house, there's still a few more things we'd like to do. Put a pool in, new counters in the kitchen, rugs at some point. But for the most part, we're done. The house is a perfect size for us now, the neighbors are great, we just love it here. There have been some ups and downs but looking back it's been a pretty good year and I have to say in closing - there really is no place like home.