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description=3 posts published by Ann Coleman during December 2021;

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december 2021 muddling through my middle age muddling through my middle age definitely older possibly wiser menu skip to content home about this blog search search for month december 2021 looking back december 29 2021 ann coleman 98 comments it s hard to believe it but 2021 is almost over it s been a rather strange year not as bad as 2020 but not as good as i had hoped for either like many of us i had believed that this would be the year that marked the end of the pandemic but this nasty virus seems determined to stay with as long as possible still we re learning how to deal with it and making great strides in the areas of vaccines and treatments i honestly believe that eventually modern medicine will prevail and hope that day comes sooner rather than later on a more personal note it s been a very busy year filled with lots of peaks and valleys we were dismayed last spring when we discovered that my husband needed to have a major surgery that early tests had indicated he could avoid and discouraged when he ended up spending over 21 days in the hospital but we were thrilled this fall when subsequent tests showed that his cancer is finally gone and we began wrapping our minds around the fact that the cancer patient was now a cancer survivor making that transition takes a bit of time emotionally we had visits from out of town relatives we hadn t seen in over a year and were able to take a much anticipated florida vacation with all of our immediate family we were able to include my mother in our thanksgiving and easter dinners this year and to gather as a family to celebrate her 91st birthday those are among the many moments i m grateful for and were all the sweeter because i no longer take such things for granted this is also the year i was fitted with invisalign braces to correct some ongoing dental issues but i can t honestly say i m grateful for that because i discovered after i handed over the check that they are supposed to be worn for 22 hours a day and that i m not allowed to eat or drink anything but water while wearing them note to self always read the fine print before embarking on new procedures still when it s all over and my teeth are finally aligned correctly i m quite sure i ll feel the gratitude best of all this was the year we added a new grandson to our family and i realized once again just how quickly i can fall in love with a little bitty person i just met one of the nicest things about families is how there is always enough room and enough love for one more wishing everyone a very happy new year with sincere wishes for a wonderful 2022 for all share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr print opens in new window print like loading something new december 16 2021 december 17 2021 ann coleman 84 comments one year my husband and i went out for dinner on the night after thanksgiving the soup special was called something like turkey medley and it was one of the best tasting soups i ve ever had somehow the cook had managed to include almost all of the flavors of a traditional thanksgiving dinner in one soup the turkey the dressing and the roasted vegetables all of it right then and there i decided that the following year we were going back to that same restaurant on the day after thanksgiving so i could have that soup again and this time i planned to take extra home with me so you can imagine my disappointment a year later when the waiter informed me that the soup special that night was clam chowder i think it s only natural to want to repeat something that we ve really enjoyed and sometimes we re able to do just that my husband and i fell in love with sanibel island the first time we visited and it s still one of our very favorite vacation spots but if i m honest i have to say that our first visit was the best because we were discovering someplace brand new and to us at least quite wonderful it s the same way when i like a movie so much that i go back to the theater to watch it again i still like it the second time i see it but i don t really enjoy the movie as much as i did the first time and this is something i have to remember each year as we move into the holiday season because christmas is a time when i find myself trying often subconsciously to relive the happy moments of past christmas celebrations but the truth is i m no longer a child so i don t feel the almost unbearable excitement of waking up on christmas morning and knowing that there s a pile of presents for me under our tree my son and daughter are also grown up now so the joy of watching their excitement on christmas morning is also a thing of the past i ll cherish those special memories forever but the truth is that they are not going to be repeated and that s okay because if we spend all our time trying to recreate the things we enjoyed in the past we ll never be able to appreciate all that the present has to offer it s true that i ll never again celebrate christmas as a young child or as the mother of young children but there s still plenty of fun to be had in this holiday and in all the ones that will follow for the next few years i ll enjoy being the grandmother of small children which has it s own benefits i get to share their excitement and joy but their own parents have to do most of the work of preparing for the holidays my husband and i have been back to the restaurant that served that fabulous soup many times but it s never been offered again clearly it was a one time experience but we have tried other menu items and specials and many of them were absolutely delicious which just goes to show i think that sometimes we have to let go of the past in order to fully appreciate the present share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr print opens in new window print like loading the voice of reason december 8 2021 ann coleman 58 comments there s no point in denying it i m a creature of habit when i shop for new clothes i usually come home with outfits that are essentially new versions of the worn out clothes that i m replacing people are often shocked when they learn that i ve been a volunteer dog walker at a local shelter for almost twenty years but it seems normal to me i m perfectly happy going on our annual florida vacation each year and my husband and i eat at our favorite restaurant so often that the manager not only knows us by name he also knows our preferred choice of wine and things just get worse when christmas rolls around i drag out the same decorations each year and place them where i always have always placed them occasionaily i get daring and add something new or give away a decoration i no longer care for but if i look at photos of our christmas celebrations in the past ten years or so my house looks basically the same there s just something about christmas that makes me embrace tradition even more that i usually do and i guess that s why i was really looking forward to the holidays this year because it meant i could get back to my normal celebrations but you know what they say about the best laid plans they really do often go astray at least where i live the pandemic is under much better control than it was last year but it s still a factor that has to be considered in our celebrations beyond that our daughter was expecting her second child in mid december not knowing when the baby would actually arrive and how comfortable my daughter and son in law will feel being a part of family celebrations means we won t be able to make our usual plans for christmas eve and christmas day this year we ll see how it goes has become our new mantra and rightly so and while i understood that our family traditions couldn t be guaranteed this year i still clung to the idea that all of my other christmas traditions would proceed as normal never mind that this resulted in a schedule that became so hectic i couldn t possibly keep up with it i stubbornly refused to cancel even a single gathering or commitment it s the christmas season so i had to carry on as normal right luckily i have a friends who are not only willing to confront me with truths i m not willing to admit to myself but they are able to do it with tact and kindness it takes a special sort of person to be able to say to you what in the world are you thinking you can t possibly manage all this in such a way that i not only took no offense but actually believed cancelling a few of my commitments was my idea as we move into what is often a far too hectic holiday season my hope is that we all have that friend who will gently speak the truth to us because we need to hear and believe that it really is okay to slow down and simply enjoy the season doing only what doesn t feel like too much and maybe if we re really lucky that s a truth that will stick with us well into the new year share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr print opens in new window print like loading follow muddling through my middle age on wordpress com follow blog via email enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email email address follow recent posts all good things carry on worth the wait feed the birds 95 and counting archives december 2025 october 2025 september 2025 august 2025 july 2025 june 2025 may 2025 april 2025 march 2025 february 2025 january 2025 december 2024 november 2024 october 2024 september 2024 august 2024 july 2024 june 2024 may 2024 april 2024 march 2024 february 2024 january 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