Another birthday approaches.  One more trip around the sun, another year in the history books, one step closer to the grave, whatever you prefer to call it … at the end of September I’ll be marking it.  I’ve had some time to reflect on the previous year, the highs and lows, sometimes both at the same time.  There’s not much else to say about things, so I’ll just get right into the retrospective. 

After a pretty good start after my last birthday, how could I have known that just two months later my life would go through a major upheaval?  I had absolutely no idea that, after twenty years of what I thought was a good relationship, she’d abruptly walk out of my life forever.  I think, had I known it was coming, it might have softened the blow and I might have had an easier time coping with the loss of companionship I’d become accustomed to.  But, ultimately, it just ended and I’m left to pick up the pieces and move on with no real support system in my real life.  Online friends?  They help.  They make me feel like there’s people out there that might actually care about me in some small way.  It’s just the cold reality that sinks in to me when I come home to an empty apartment, realizing that anything I do or anywhere I go from this point on will be a solo journey.  I’ve managed to have a couple of outings and had a pretty decent time, but the experience might have been better if I could have shared it with someone else.  I guess it’s just a side effect of sharing a life with someone for twenty years, only to have that come to an abrupt end with no hint of what was to come.

It’s been three months since I was reinstated as terminal manager and I’m slowly settling into the whole routine.  At least this time around I have a better idea of what to expect, as opposed to the first time when I truly was thrown in blind and left to fend for myself.  I’ve had good days and bad days, sometimes both in the same time span, but for the most part I’m happy to be off the road.  I was rapidly getting to the point that I would have had to find another job that didn’t require me to be driving all the time, as it was causing me physical pain with each trip taken, each mile driven.  And, I have a good crew that works well and works with me.  Chalk one up in the plus column for that.

Overall health, while not perfect, has been relatively okay.  This past year I’ve had weight struggles, eye problems, gout flare-ups, issues with sleep and just the general maladies that come with getting to an advanced age.  I’ve been doing all I can, and all I can afford, to keep myself going as best as I can and maybe squeeze a few more years out of this rapidly deteriorating body of mine, and while it’s been a mostly uphill struggle, it appears I’ll be hanging in for a little while longer at least.

While this isn’t a milestone year, as far as age goes, it’s still  a remarkable achievement to have been around this long, as there were points in my life where I never thought I’d make it, nor did I really want to.  Still, the journey continues, and while it’s mostly downhill at this point in time, I plan to enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.