This year has been A Lot, both good and bad, so if you are curious what I've been up to while I've been away, read on. Warning for declining family health, mentions of cancer, and strokes inside
* at the end of January, my mom suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. The whole thing sounded scary; she'd driven herself to the grocery store (thank God she wasn't on the road when it happened) and was found in the produce section. They had to medvac her to a bigger city because the local hospital couldn't stop the blood flow
* fortunately she recovered really well, tho she was in the hospital for over 2 months (hospital + rehab). now she's walking (with assistance), she's cooking, she was able to talk pretty quickly on in the hospital. She doesn't remember ANYTHING from the time in the hospital; there's like a 3 month gap in her memories
* weirdly her horrendous arthritis no longer bothers her???? Apparently this is a thing that happens
* but basically we were all faced with the existential dread of having a mom/wife who could so easily gave just.... been lost. It was awful. I'm so proud of her recovery, so glad she was in such a public place that they got to her quickly enough, that she wasn't on the road, that she got the help she needed so fast.... I keep thinning of how just slightly different circumstances could have gone differently
* my dad has been amazing and it's restored my faith in him and their relationship. I have big feelings about that
* there was another close call situation with clots in her lungs???? They had to like... vacuum the clots out? Wild tech. She had to be admitted to the hospital and it became wildly apparent that she's developed super awful hospital trauma. Dad told me when they took her in she was telling him they'd never let her go home again 😭 I told him he should consider talking to her about therapy and he agreed to my surprise
* but she's doing fine now!!! I'm really proud of her. I can't wait til she's walking without assistance again!
* around the time she came home from the hospital, her half-brother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. I'll spare most of the details but it's Not Great. The chemo doesn't agree with him and was making him sicker. Last I knew, his second round was canceled because he was too sick to go through with it. The outlook isn't good and idk if I'll have a chance to go down before he passes because I used so much time during ma's recovery
* my grandma is now in the early stages of dementia. She's not at the forgetting people stage but I'm tracing to brace for that future. The family has already gotten things in order, she's picked out a home for when it's no longer safe for her to live on her own and my sister will buy her home/property (crazy!!!) and I am NOT ready for any of this. In my head she's still the 50 year old lady she was when I was a kid but.....
THERE'S GOOD STUFF, TOO, THO
* we hired a new editor earlier this year!!! And I'm her mentor! They even flew her in from Puerto Rico in May for a couple weeks of training, so I was in office with her for 2 weeks
* it was really fun and I gad my first ever post-work outings lol she was also here over Memorial Weekend, so I made it my mission to keep her company on the weekend.
* we visited a farm animal sanctuary with all kinds of rescue farm animals, many who have various disabilities 🥺
* and with my husband the three of us went to our FIRST EVER Ren Faire!!!! It was SOOOOOOOO much fun omg I fell in love and now I want OUTFITS I wanna dress up!!!!!
* my friend moved here and we've been so busy nearly every weekend lol she lives near downtown so we can walk to the cute lil downtown districts and go to the cool shops and boutiques or go eat somewhere fun. One day we were crossing a bridge and complimented this couple's kite and they gave us a unicorn kite?! For free?! We've gone to Farmer's markets, this market venue downtown with rotating weekend vendors. I've bought a lot of local art and cute earrings and local food and fallen in love with my little city
* I'm so glad she moved here, I cannot overstate how much my mental health has improved by going OUT and seeing PEOPLE and EXPLORING
* we went to our FIRST EVER pride fest!!!!!! It was SUCH a great time. SO many vendors, SUCH a great turn out, I bought so much fun stuff from queer folks <3
* this weekend we're going to a cat cafe
* next weekend we're going to my first ever convention!!!!! I complimented someone's outfit at the farmer's market and they immediately asked if we knew about the con and told us we should go lol
* we're also picking out ceramics workshops to do together!!!!!!!!
* I'm so so sooooooo happy I cannot express just how HAPPY and ALIVE I feel lately.
* also omg I've played a LOT of otome/visual novels this last year? Notably, Andromeda Six, A Date With Death, and Our Life: Beginnings and Always. Am OBSESSED with them all!!!!!!
* can't wait for Fields of Mistria's full release!!!!! I've taken off Aug 7 and 7 lmaoooooooo
* started watching The Apothecary Diaries with my husband. We've only finished s1 but I now NEED the light novels! Oh I love I so much, it's so fun! All the characters are so fun and I'm really enjoying all the mysteries~!
Anyway I hope you all have been well or at least ARE well! It's a hot and muggy summer and I know the heat waves have been nasty to us all over the world, so take care! I'm very much looking forward to when the weather eventually cools because every time I go out with my friend, I bring a spare change of clothes to her house for when we return lmao it's so bad.
