I’ll admit it: I came into 2011 with a sense of pending doom. I’m not a negative gal so I’d like to think it was a premonition that this year would basically suck. I mean, it wasn’t all bad. We went on a Disney Cruise, took loads of fun ski trips and spent July in Canada.
See? That’s what an optimist does–tries to put on a positive spin.
But there’s no “spinning” the onslaught of medical bills we have from Jamie’s heart surgery, his chronic rheumatism problems, my chest pains and knee surgery. Not to mention the BBQ and refrigerator we had to replace, the car problems and the second set of phones that are on the fritz. Oh, and last week? The Internet was down for two days and Jamie’s computer was on the brink of death.
He is a web developer who works from home. One might say his computer is kind of important.
So, our big expense last week was a new computer.
Good-bye, Christmas presents. It was nice (not) knowing you.
Even with this humdinger of a year, I still recognize we’ve been blessed. We’ve been fortunate that Jamie’s business is going well (hence the 12-hour days) and that my parents made a generous charitable donation to help offset the cost of my knee surgery.
Because make no mistake: we are charity cases these days.
Last week, we attended the preview of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science’s new T.Rex Encounter exhibit. The kids had a blast but it wasn’t until we posed for a picture with a super-imposed dinosaur on a blue screen that I got the symbolism:
T.Rex = 2011.
Better luck in 2012.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 