2010: What Happened Was.....

When I started out to post my year in review, I was originally going to do a "The Good and The Bad." Ha ha! I hear you all laughing. I know I have a strange genetic defect that does not allow me to see things as bad. Well, in January we lost Rita.
I loved her dearly but she was very old and had terrible pain in her hands. She could barely hold a fork. Our last day together was wonderful. And she died in her sleep. That's really ideal. Death happens and it doesn't bother me at all when an old person dies. It's inevitable. I miss her quirky humor though.
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Another thing that happened was I got my new Meals on Wheels route at the beginning of the year. It was a little irksome at first with the wanky apartment complexes, but the rest of it was golden. So close to my house, so quick, so easy. We also had winter storm tree damage, but thankfully, no damage to our house. And the video I made of that always makes me laugh.
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Our next big event was our annual beach trip.

Everything about the beach trip was wonderful and I had so much fun. I'll never forget the Trivial Pursuit and all the laughs with friends and family. And great food!
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I got some great home improvement projects done like painting both hallways:

And I knocked out those stupid posts that were in the opening between the dining area and the living room. I really hated those things. There may have been some other little things that I forgot.
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In the summer, when I got that photo text from my daughter of a wedding chapel, I realized she was really getting married. They had been engaged for maybe two years, so I guess I wasn't really taking it seriously. I remember that day that my daughter, her fiance and myself went to the country club to check it out as a possible reception venue. That's the day I realized it was really going to happen. And so on another day, my daughter, her maid of honor and I went shopping and I found this:

Yes! There is actually a uniform for The Mother Of The Bride. And I found a comfortable one. My brain kicked into high gear then. Oh MY! There really is going to be a wedding. We need to make plans! Where will all my people stay? And how can I have people stay at my house when the spa has become tiresome and unsightly? So I hired people to take that thing out:

That was quite a process and left a deep hole and broken deck and so I hired someone else to fill the hole and finish the deck. Then I converted the library into temporary sleeping quarters and came up with ideas of how to entertain guests for several days.

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I realize I left some things out, like the fantastic sports year we had with our basketball team (DUKE!!) winning the national championship and our baseball team (Go Rangers!!) winning the ALCS and making their first trip to the world series. But really, I would have to say that Kate's wedding was the big event of 2010.

I had so much fun with my friends and family all here at the same time. And the reality is Duke could win the national championship again next year. An old beloved person could very well die next year, there will be things done to the house, we'll have another great week at the beach cottage, but my one and only child getting married and having Mom, my brother and my best friend all here? That will never happen again. I loved it. I loved 2010. I'm looking forward to 2011.

(I have plans, you know. )