Perspective

I was driving to the dentist the other day, and I passed the street where at one time I would turn right and go a bit into the neighborhood to my then-boss's house to stay with her dogs while she and her husband were traveling, and then again while they were staging their first international relocation. I got a bit nostalgic. Nostalgic about the job I had at the time--the company I was working for. Nostalgic about those two furry reprobates who brought me so much joy. Nostalgic about a friend who has spent the time between then and now bouncing back and forth between Bahrain and Thailand--someone I used to see every day, reduced now to just pictures on Facebook.

Of course, all of that happened in the summer of 2012.

I know we all think 2020 was bad, and it was. It was fucking awful. Terrible things happened. We're still in the aftershock phase. 

 But for me, 2012 was worse.

I've told y'all about 2012 before, I know. In 2012 I ended a relationship, lost two grandparents in three weeks, and was forced to move in with my grandmother because I couldn't afford to live on my own anywhere I wouldn't get stabbed every evening when I came home. It was not a fun year, on the whole. Oh, yes, there were a couple of things that happened in 2012 that were positive. I finally had health insurance again and was able to see a mental health professional and get some help, and some meds to help silence some of the voices in my head and keep my heart from feeling like it was going to burst out of my chest at any moment. A very dear friend of mine got married. It was the best wedding I've ever been to--and that's saying something, because I hate weddings. 

But mostly, 2012 was really, really shitty.

So when I think of all the nonsense we've endured in the last year--and it was terrible--I can't help but think that I've weathered worse.