aerik

This has been a rough year... My father-in-law passed away in the spring, my aunt-in-law (?) died on Dec 23, and in the beginning of the year, both our dogs died (separately, disease and old age).  I really miss my father-in-law; he was an important figure in our family and no one was expecting to lose him so soon.  His passing has created a lot of other change rippling through our lives as well, so it's not just the grief and the void of him not being here, but also the stress that comes with a lot of change.

Losing him has made me think a lot about the nature of loss and grief, and about mortality, too... although some of that is probably due to grappling with facing middle age anyway.  I routinely forget that I'm 42 - it just doesn't seem real.

Other changes:  Eli (and the rest of us) is wrestling with the onset of puberty.  My company had a big layoff (and my job isn't going the way I had expected anyhow).  Eli changed boy scout troops (a smaller troop, which is a much better fit for him).  I've been surfing more, but not exercising enough otherwise... but the surfing is fun, and I'm slowly improving.

Looking back over my entries for 2011, it strikes me that I've skipped over some of the biggest impact stuff.  I think it's a combination of still wrestling with so much loss, and having some hesitance to share too much in public.  It was a year of really, really big change for our family.