2013
I have decided to write a blog about what touched me in the
last year. Mia will be so proud that I am sharing. She thinks I am too private
sometimes. I decided to write this because I feel sometimes people get so
wrapped up in their own lives that they forget there are more people out there.
This is not a slam to anyone but as someone who only has my siblings and really
no close friends, I tend to spend more time watching the news. I hope that this
blog will bring home how much the world has changed in just a year. I have the
worst memory in the world so I have to have a list of the top stories of the
year open while I write this so I can remember when things happened. So here
are the good, the bad and the ugly from 2013.
I guess I get to start in January the most logical
place. President Obama being reelected
was a no brainer for me and if you know me at all I am a very liberal person. Not
much else seemed to make a huge impression on me personally. Most of you know I
work in retail and people think that our busy season ends in December but we
actually get busier in my part of the store. We have to change the look of the
store and basically put it all back together after the holidays. I can remember
how stressed and ready for my vacation I was at that time. I really started
talking to Mia about the Romantic Times convention. We had talked about in the
abstract but the New Year really brought home how close I was to seeing Mia and
all my friends again. I had seen some of them in May but it seemed like it had
been a lot longer than that.
Moving on to February. Now I watch a lot of BBC America so the horsemeat
in being found in food in the UK completely grossed me out and it made me more conscience
of the food that I eat. I really started to look at buying local food where I
know where it came from. I did notice as the year wore on though I forgot about
the scandal and it became less important for me. I still try to buy local but
sometimes it is just not practical or cost effective.
I remember seeing the story about the diamond heist in
Brussels and having a conversation with my sister about if the people would be
caught and how long it would take. Another story I remember was the Pope retiring.
My mother was Catholic so I know how big a deal that is for Catholics. All the
stories I read talked about how huge a deal it was that a Pope retired instead
of dying in office.
March didn’t make much of an impression on me except for the
civil unrest in Egypt. I felt that it was going to get worse and the country I
always wanted to visit would be destroyed by war. I couldn’t help but worry not
just about all the innocents that would be killed but the priceless history
that would be lost. History is a passion of mine so this really hit me hard because
I have wanted to see some of the treasures since King Tut came to the United
States when I was a kid.
Margaret Thatcher passing away was the thing I remember from
April. I grew up in the 1980’s. Yes, I know I am old. Anyway, Margaret Thatcher
was a huge inspiration for girls even if you didn’t agree with her politics. She
was very conservative but she was one of the first women who opened the door
for all women in politics. She was tough and stood up to any man who told her
she should just sit down and shut up. Her death brought home how much things
had changed from the time when I was a kid and now. I had great respect for
Mrs. Thatcher even when I didn’t agree all the time with her.
April also brought my nervousness about seeing people again.
I know it is stupid but it is different talking to people online and sitting
across from them at breakfast or lunch. I planned or plotted with Mia for weeks
about our trip. It was only a long weekend but you would have thought it was
going to be a month long. It was a weird
mixture excitement and apprehension.
For me May was one of the big highlights of my year. It
started off with my trip to Kansas City with Mia. We spent our first night
alone in KC. It was a fun just catching up with her. The rest of the weekend
was spent hanging out with friends and seeing some of our favorite people.
Sunday marked the end of RT and everyone heading home but for Mia and I it was
the beginning of an amazing roadtrip. We left KC and drove though Kansas before
heading back through Missouri to St. Louis. We had so much fun that it didn’t
even seem like we spent 10 hours in a car. Monday marked the end of our trip
and Mia’s flight home.
June was nothing special that I can remember. July brings
one of my favorite holidays, America’s birthday. I know I am a dork but I
always watch the musical 1776 on the Fourth of July. On a sad note it is also
the month of my Momma’s birth so we try and go to her grave and lay flowers. It
is also when my family tries to spend a weekend together. It is full of crazy
people eating really unhealthy food. Not to mention it almost always rains.
August holds another great memory for me. I flew out to the
wilds of Tennessee for a short visit with Mia before we headed to Savannah for
Authors After Dark. Even though I was sick for a couple of days it was great
spending time with Mia, her husband, The Geek and her daughter, Tigger.
Savannah was all kinds of awesome. It rained the entire time we were there but
it was still a lot of fun. One of the highlights for me was spending a lot of
time with Jenn LeBlanc and Heather Long. The list of people we spent time with
is way too long to list.
September though December always seems to be a blur for me
with work being insane so not a lot of to report for me. I do always like the
year in reviews because it reminds me of all the good and bad that happens in a
year. So what do you remember from the year of 2013?
Sinfully Sarcastic,
Shmuttmeister
