This year has not been an easy year for my family. When the calendar turned over 334 days ago, I was excited for the new year, new beginnings, and the new adventures. With a renewed sense of purpose and a plan to continue working on completing my 50×50 list, I figured the mid-decade point was going to be a good year. I was sure it was going to be a good year!

But then things happened within my family and time stopped. When time restarted, it was March. It wasn’t easy, though, and more tension ensued. Let’s just say living in my house was hard with a capital H. Like impossibly hard. My world was falling apart, one day at a time.

Then we found out Mom wasn’t well. It started simply enough. She told us she had a ‘small mass on her bladder’. Mom was scheduled for simple procedure at the end of May. That is when *we* found out she had cancer. She hadn’t told us.

Anyway, let us just say, the year got worse from there.

But, we cannot dwell or wallow. Well, we could, but I know that Mom would not want that, so I have to look to what the year has taught me. Or what the year has shown me may be a better way to put it.

Time passes. Regardless of all the terrible things that happen, all the sad things, the bad things, the hard things, time passes, whether you want it to or not. Days march by, minute by minute, hour by hour, the clock keeps ticking. Sometimes loudly, sometimes silently.

Things happen. Good things, bad things, fun things, sad things. They happen, again – whether you are ready for them to or not. It doesn’t matter how much you beg and plead for them to not happen, they just do. I don’t like that feeling, because it leaves you powerless, but I think that’s another thing – we are all powerless too. We can’t affect change.

I know nothing. I mean, I know stuff about what I do for work, and I know stuff about how to make good cookies and pasta sauce, but I don’t know about big things like why my Mom died, or how to cancel Mom’s health care card, or insurance. Being all adulty was something Mom did! Sure, I run my own house and have managed million dollar reno projects, but taking care of what happens when someone dies? I am not supposed to know about that stuff yet. It isn’t my time to do that yet! I know my Mom was 78 and my Dad is 79, but I am not ready.

I guess this year has also shown me that when you have to, you can be ready for anything. Whether you want to be or not.

Obvious points? Yes. But I didn’t know back in March how I would ever make it through this year. In July, when my world was again falling apart, I didn’t think I’d make it to December. And then on November 23, when I watched Mom’s life slip away, I didn’t think I would make to the next hour.

It is December 1. Thirty days left in 2025, we can do this.