Life moved and I stopped to taste it...

First off, happy birthday to my late mother-in-law, Elizabeth!  You have been missed SO much these almost 4 years, and I wish I could hear your words of wisdom just one more time.

 Life moves too quickly.  I can't believe we are already more than halfway into the 8th month of 2024.  When we're young, we just can't wait for the years to pass by until we are older, then when that finally happens, we wonder how we missed it all.  Life just seems cruel that way.  And I have never been prepared for how fast it's moving lately.

I realize that I completely failed to do any posting whatsoever in 2023.  Considering how incredibly shitty of a year it was... I am going to give myself a pass on that.  I won't go into too many details, but... it was just too filled with death.  I also can't believe it's already been well over a year since we lost Dozer, our great dane.  Our house was so empty without his presence.  I can still see his face, locking eyes with mine for the last time, as he let out one quick yelp and was gone forever.  I like to think he was telling me he loved me in that moment, and that everything was going to be okay. 💙🐾 He's forever in my heart.

We also lost Reno early in that year, our long-time family friend that we'd been taking care of and helping out in his older age.  He was so incredibly independent and hated asking for help, but we were grateful that he ended up letting us do exactly that.  He was also one of the most generous and nicest people I've ever had the pleasure to know.  It was a very difficult loss.  I still find myself in slight denial that he's really gone.  He was such a staple in our lives for as long as I have lived here in California.

Life has been much quieter around here for the past year and a half--especially around the holidays, but we are learning to adjust.  I'm going to try and post here more often, and actually stick to it this time.  I PROMISE!