MASHUP 2013

Last year still seems so near even though I can hardly remember November 2013.  But, if I just sit a minute and rewind I might remember who I was and all the things that happened.  Maybe I could start with December and go back each month.  No, no, I think the best way is to MashUp 2013 - blurred memories, wicked thoughts, endless tears and frantic laughs altogether - at least what I can remember.  

I had the best pizzas all year long with my good friend Will.  New good friends are hard to find even if they’ve been there all along.  Good friends are worth the time spent solidifying the relationship and letting them know the ugly truth about yourself.  Believe me, I am blunt, straight forward and sometimes unapologetically overly opinionated.  None of my close friends and family would probably use the word “sweet” to describe me.  I’m sure of it.  

I missed out on a super awesome EOY vacay with some of my BFF’s.  Boo.  But, Christmas and NYE was great with family.  I even sang a song - a song I’d been practicing for three years, and I still messed up.  Performing is just not my thing, but everyone had a good laugh or two.

I also got a new job in June.  Yipee!  And my old boss got canned after I left.  Boo!  Why not before?  But I love my job now equally, well 20% more equally. 

And I must mention I decided to let things go its course with the driveway issues.  We had no choice so the courts will decide: Good Ole Boys v. Pissed Off Asian Woman.  Enough Said.

2013 also brought two weddings and a pouring of new babies.  Squeeze!  Love in the air.  New life to celebrate.  All the sugary sweetness a spinster can handle. 

Family happenings was heartwarming and heartbreaking.  My mom left me this year.  Now I have two parents out of the house.  Its hard when parents retire and move away.  I’m glad they are finally together, but I was feeling total empty nest syndrome, and felt it especially more when Olivia & Co. bought a house.  Luckily Yia & Violet moved back.  sigh of relief.

The most changing experience was losing one of my heros - my grandfather.  The pain of losing him is unimaginable, and coping with it is harder than anything I've had to face.  I know I surely went through the stages, and people! its totally ok to conform and go through the stages. Death is so illuding, and the only way I could make some sense of it was to think of living; the way my grandpa lived his life and how it impacts the way I live mine.  I revisited the moments I shared with him like when he got his first bonus at work and took everyone to Old Country Buffet.  Or, when I got my first summer job working with him cutting flowers.  All the lessons he taught me through the way he lived his life.  Even now, the pain is so near.  He welded his will to very end.  I still can’t come to terms on what is more painful that he left us or that we let him go.  He always loved everyone more than anyone knew.  I realize that there will never be enough time, and there is only the time right now to do what I want and to love the people around me.  That is the part of his legacy I hope to carry into the new year and for the rest of my life.