Photoessay #1163 - Looking back at 2010

I realized I hadn't done a 'look back at the old year' post.

A very eventful year for myself. The most crucial events happened near the beginning. I guess they were bound to happen, I just didn't see it all coming. My mother passed away in February, I've written about that. That set financial matters in motion.

Around the same time, I lost my job of 14 years. It had been limping along for some time. These days, you can blame everything on the economy but, no question, this was personal. Reflecting, this is the only time that I lost a job because they really didn't want me there any more. I held on to collect unemployment. I could have said "the sky is blue" and I would be accused of 'not looking outside the box" and "unwilling to change". Anyway I certainly took some personal hits.

But everything does happen for a reason. This freed me up to spend as much time as I wanted in Rockford with my mom. I spent 27 days in Rockford.

After that, reviewing our financial situation, we came to the conclusion that I didn't have to get a job. It was fine with Dennis. Shocking, my kids finally grown up. I'm wondering what to do when I grow up and now, I'm semi-retired? I figure I'm channeling my mom. She never worked outside the home.

So I've been concentrating on reading and writing. Return to what I liked to do anyway. Took the Guided Autobiography class during the summer. And enrolled in the yearlong Memoir certificate program at the University of Wasington. Very challenging!

I've traveled a lot:
Jan-Feb 3 trips to Rockford
April Japan (visiting Nobuko and Natsuko)
July Connecticut (internment of my parents)
August visiting trip to California
December Hawaii (The Big Island with my sister and brother)

Spent a lot of time with my 10 year old granddaughter these past six months. Still doing a lot of work with Parent Group. Still working the program too.

But the loss of my mom really sets the tone for this year.

Picture of Delia's lace fan, probably my mom's most prized position now hanging in my living room. Delia was her maternal grandmother. My mom had the fab framed in the 60s. She had to search and search for somebody to do it. She built the whole Delia wall around the fan.