2015 saved its best punch for last, and I have to admit. It dang near killed me. It al started well. The kids showed up at 5:40 and I was prepared with plates of sausage and pancakes to charge them up for the day to come. I knew there was some bad news to deliver right from the start. My great aunt–their great great aunt–passed away and I needed to tell them. They took it well. She was very old and lived a full life, so it helped that I was more interested in celebrating her memory than mourning it. It also helped that the news was given before we were set to drive to Flagstaff, AZ (a 3.5 hr trip) for their first ever ‘snow day’ sledding experience. The drive down was fun and filled with Daddy DJ and all sorts of growing excitement as we crested into snow territory. That’s about the only bit of good I can recall.
We hit the slopes and all had sleds and no gloves. My first trip down was super fast and I froze my hands. All the change in my pockets dumped out on slide. I collected it. The littlest Talislegger felt the same and demanded we go back to the car and get some gloves, even if we only had football gloves in the car.
The moment I got to the car things were bad. I couldn’t find my keys. It turns out I lost them on that first (and ultimately only) slide down the hill. I spent the next three hours searching through the snow for keys and growing desperately angry at a really ornery and not at all helpful ranger staff. I never found the keys.
After a dozen calls to different locksmiths I finally convinced one to drive up the mountain to make me a new key. He did it and charged me a straight up stupid amount of money for the service. Still, I was absolutely grateful for him and his good work.
Finally we got back in the car and headed home. We stopped to grab gifts for parties the boys had to go to (one that night) and after ten minutes on a series of unmoving lines we realized we would never get service and were getting later and later for the parties we were supposed to go to.
By the time I got home I thought the worst was over, but it wasn’t. I came home to garbage strewn all over the kitchen and library. I’d left a full (and closed) bag of garbage next to the garbage can and forgot to take it out in the morning before we left. The dog was grateful for the leftovers and, well, destroyed multiple floors.
Now I’m tired and bothered and sick of 2015. Happy new year and good riddance.
Some Thoughts:
- It is not lost on me that my last post of 2015 is exactly 100 past the game year I became involved in writing for Shadowrun…
- Sometimes I feel like I already died and I’m living some fantasy of a life I could’ve had. Weird but true.