Four fours! A milestone…and the last of that particular kind, I think. Pretty sure I won’t live long enough for five fives? Let’s see how many years that would be…
140 years from now. lol. Good lord, I wouldn’t actually even hope for living to 180 years old. So…yes. This will be the last such milestone on this blog. Cheers to that. NOT, however, the last time we’ll get the same number four times in a row, at least if I decide to keep this up for another 1,111 days, which…I have no plans to stop, so. 1,111 days is just a touch over 3 years from now. Wow. So, that last time I hit this milestone, 3,333…was the holidays, 2022. Coco was still alive. She’d just had back surgery, then, I think. I’m going to look it up. Yeah, that’s right—we were closing in on Christmas of 2022. I’d just recently written the second Glory book, which was the first time I’d ever finished a second book, and the first time I’d ever written a book, completely, within a calendar year. What a banner year that was, my goodness. What a step forward.
I’ve just continued since then. I can write a book in a year, now, completely confidently. With that anxiety off my plate, I’ve started to push into new areas of ‘stretch’…quality, mostly, is what I’m aiming towards, now, and a new wrinkle to my writing schedule that includes writing one book while outlining the next at the same time, so that—hopefully—I can actually be writing, physically writing, a book at all times. That’s when I’ve discovered I’m at my happiest, when I’m writing. And I’m reading so so much more. What a joy that has been.
Coco passed. Cat got sick again and she’s fading right now. Cooper is an old dog, now, but still healthy. Joy came into our lives. She’s snuggled up in between my legs right now, a little heater. We’ve worked on the house, little by little. We’re dedicating ourselves this year to saving all the time, every single month, continually, to go on trips abroad and see the world together. I’m reading Tolstoy for the first time. We’ve re-committed these past three years to spending consistent, quality time with the King kids, and we’re very close to all of them. What’s coming will be devastating, but we’ll be devastated together. Sherilyn passed, and we went to her funeral this week. And it’s almost new years. New Year’s eve is tomorrow. What a time to be passing this milestone.
I’m very happy with who I am. I’ve slipped into a routine that I find very, very fulfilling, with my work, my writing, my reading, the dogs, Liz, my family, and our whole life together. I’d say it’s been about these past SIX years, so stretching all the way back to entry number 2,222 where I really committed to the work to change myself, the work to become who I really wanted to become. I wouldn’t say that I’ve “arrived” at that person or state of being yet—I don’t know if I ever will, actually—but I am immensely happy with how much I’ve already changed and grown. Happy and relieved. Things were looking very, very dicey there for a moment.
We went over to the Kings today, Liz and I, and spent time with the kids so Cat, Christina and Matt could meet and talk with the death doula. Ernesto. He’s been immensely helpful in terms of facilitating and brokering communication. Wolfie and I hung out. He played Breath of the Wild while I fiddled with rekordbox to show Tilde at some point. Liz spent a bit of time with them, Mir and Tilda down in dad’s office, and a bit of time up in Cat’s bedroom with us. The pups were very patiently waiting for us at home. Liz also got her steering wheel wrapped today, and it’s spectacular. The original leather wrapping had disintegrated. This one feels like perfection and way, waaaaaayyy more durable. Glad she finally got it fixed.
And…I’m off to read a bit before bed. Some more Tolstoy, I think. He paints a very real, very complete character. I dig it. Night night.