Reflections on the year that was and the year that will be

The beginning of a new year, I always like to take some time to reflect on the past and visualize the future.  I ask myself and pretty much anyone I converse with:

What was hardest about 2023?  What was best?  What did you accomplish?  What did you overcome?  And what are your hopes/vision for 2024?

For me 2023 had a lot of wonderful moments and not too many difficulties.  Some of the hardest parts of the year were about our kitties Bandy and Angel.  When we first adopted them at the end of 2022, they were 5 months old, so full of play and affection, climbing all over us with freedom and trust.  Both of them would visit me for a cuddle at all hours of the night and early morning, which was heaven, despite the loss of sleep.

But as they matured, their dynamics changed.  Bandy became the alpha, and Angel began to shrink away, always hyper-aware of where Bandy was.  Angel stopped getting in our laps and stopped visiting me at night or getting onto the bed at all, while Bandy still gets in my lap almost every evening and still comes to sit on my chest almost every early morning.  Angel became sensitive, timid, while Bandy is absolutely unabashable and confident.  I was so sad to feel a widening gap between us and Angel.

Happily, Angel has started to become more available for affection again.  Several times recently she has crept onto the bed and curled up on my pillow for a purr fest, and has even gotten into my lap once or twice while Sweet Hubby and I watched a movie.  I need to remind myself that there is more to come, and not to take any one moment as representative of all moments.

The worst crisis of the year has ended up being almost all silver lining.  The downstairs level of our house was flooded in November, which felt disastrous for a few days.  But that disaster has led to SH starting at last to clear away a lifetime's accumulation of stuff stuff stuff.  Since we had to clear out his downstairs office in order to take out the carpet, he has decided that besides putting in a new floor, he's going to put in new insulation and wiring and paint the room, so although the house is topsy turvy right now, in the long run, it and we are going to be much better off.  I'm thinking this flood was one of the best things that ever happened to us.

Most of the best of last year consisted of travels: to Alaska for a wedding (where I got my first case of COVID); a cruise to Hawaii with a great friend (where I got my second case); to Idaho to visit best girlfriends; to upstate NY to visit SH's dad and family; to CA for a big family gathering.

It wasn't a great year for me as a playwright.  There were 13 productions of my plays around the world, plus one short play published in a literary magazine.  I did write a couple of new short plays and made some progress on a full length.  As an actress, I had a great time shooting a new series of commercials with my faux 'family' for an Idaho credit union.  I always seem to have just enough artistic accomplishments to feel hopeful, never quite enough to feel successful.

My vision for the new year is to travel more and to finish at least one of my full length plays-in-progress.  And that's a bit of a rundown for me.  I'd love to hear what the kind of year it has been for you.