Merry New Year!

Well 2013 has been a helluva year.

As I sit here, with wet hair, wearing Mr. Forty’s t-shirt and telling myself I should go get ready to go out and visit some friends at their annual NYE party, I look back over the year.

I also remember we have no Bloody Mary Mix for the NYD party we are throwing tomorrow afternoon.

Hell.

Let’s focus on everything Mr. Forty and I managed to do this year:

January – I got a huge promotion at work and began building a brand new department. Over the year I’ve hired some people who aren’t just my coworkers – they’re my friends.  Mr. Forty and I celebrated our one-year anniversary by having a lovely dinner in Atlanta. We looked real nice.

February – Mr. Forty visited and began to meet folks around Tampa in order to make the transition to moving here. I began to clean out my closets and my dresser and try to make room in my tiny bungalow for another human and a cat. I tried on a wedding dress. It was the only one I tried on. I bought it. It was perfect. I wish I was wearing it right now. I travel to Colombia. I could tell you why, but then I’d have to kill you.

March – I escorted Mr. Forty and his cat to Tampa, along with all of his stuff. His house in Atlanta remains for sale. It is very nice. Please let us know if you’re in the market, we would love to sell it to you. “We have a vacation home in Southeast Atlanta,” doesn’t work – even for liberals.

April – Mr. Forty, myself, about 60 of our closest friends, and some family got together at a big old house on the water, roasted a pig (named Amy – don’t ask), said some really nice things to each other, and were declared married in the eyes of the great State of Florida. We get away for as long as my job will allow and sneak off to Key West. Mr. Forty loves it as much as I always have. This is a good thing.

May – After less than 45 days of co-habitation, we asked a realtor to please look for something in our price range that was slightly larger than a shoe box. She sent us several listings the next day. We liked one house in particular. We went and saw it that day. We made an offer. We now live in it.  Mr. Forty informs me he is taking the Florida Bar. I inform Mr. Forty that I like to be a part of life decisions. He promises to remember that. We take a trip to NYC and Mr. Forty gets to spend real time in the City for the first time in his life.

June – Mr. Forty studies for the Bar. I get rid of furniture we don’t need. Mr. Forty studies for the Bar. I spend time with my friends at the pub. Mr. Forty studies for the Bar. I clean around him. Mr. Forty studies for the Bar. I go for long runs. Mr. Forty studies for the Bar.

July – My very sweet old terrier with one eye passes away in her sleep. We are very sad. Two weeks later, sad from being sad all the time, we take our other bat looking terrier to the Humane Society and she selects her new bestest friend in the whole wide world – a blonde terrier. We name her. She does not know her name, even now, so why should you? We are currently calling her “Pot Roast.” She’s ignoring that name as well.  Mr. Forty takes the Bar. I bring him lunch every day at the exam site. He looks smarter than everyone around him, but I don’t tell him that, I don’t want him to get a complex.

August – We move into our new house. We paint the walls, we buy new furniture, we nest. We put all the things we aren’t sure about in the front bedroom. We call it the “box room.” We had hoped for it to be a staging area for a year or more. We were idiots. We love our new home, we adjust to our new home. Mr. Forty gets a job doing lawyer things. He also starts to get jobs doing photographer things. He is very happy. I start teaching an MBA course at the university in our town. I am very happy. We are very happy. Football starts, I am VERY happy.

September – Mr. Forty finds out he didn’t just pass the Bar, he made it his bitch. He adjusts to his new job. All my footballs teams suck. I adjust to the pathetic “new normal” that is my Saturdays and Sundays. We celebrate Mr. Forty’s birthday at the beach with the terriers.  At some point we create life.

October – We find out we’re having a baby. We start this blog. Everything changes. Nothing changes. Football still sucks.

November and December – Well you’ve been on that trip with us. Sore boobs, readjustments, laughter, frustration, a complete lack of a proper name for Critter. Thanksgiving, terrible football, major work accomplishments, travel, Christmas, and now… New Years.

2013 was kind of insane. In all the best ways. I’m sorry to see it go. I can honestly say, it was the best year of my life.