I’m re-listening to James Clear’s “Atomic Habits” for at least the 6th time and one of his reminders is to “just do something”—some action—to get you started in a progressive direction and then you can build on that momentum, those small habits, and before you know it, you’ve made some major progress in changing the trajectory of your life. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true: small missed opportunities, little decisions not to repeat a good action, tiny bad habits repeated and you find yourself in a much more negative life direction.

I was proud of the progress I had made with this blog from August to November—in 3 months time I had written 8 posts. Not bad at all, considering how slim my productivity had become the prior couple of years. I was making small moves and I was showing up. I was on a really good trajectory.

And then, the election happened and I was not loving the results.

And then, Terry started a 6 month clinical trial with the University of Chicago the Friday in between our 20th anniversary and Thanksgiving.

And then, Terry’s reaction to the clinical trial turned out to be much more exhausting and debilitating for the patient than was expected.

And then, my Vanda was blooming! Woo hoo!

And then, during my Winter Vacation, I channeled my energy into caregiving, spending a weekend in Michigan, baking, walks at the Lake with Bleu, and reclaiming some control over our physical living space with deep cleanings and declutterring projects, while listening to a variety of audiobooks.

And then, the New Year started with a truck and driver barreling down Canal and Bourbon Streets in New Orleans, a city I lived in for 5 years and love.

And then, school started back last week on my birthday and it ended up being a much tougher week than I could have projected, on many levels.

And then, the wild fires started burning in LA, a city I lived in for 2 years and love.

And then, my mom ended up back in the hospital, for issues related to a tooth extraction in October that has not healed as it should, probably a result of the chemo regimen she was on from June-December weakening her immune system and ability to fight off infection.

And then I took the train on Friday night to Ann Arbor, since the winter weather has made travel dicey (especially this weekend), so that I could visit my mom and hang out with the Family, and was fascinated by a fellow passenger who gave herself some TLC in the form of a henna and manicure during our 4 hour trip and had a beautiful art piece on her hand to show for her effort.

And then, my mom was showing improvement all weekend and so I decided to head back to Chicago tonight.

And then, on the trip back I spent the majority of the time without seat mates and was able to get some physical space and invaluable ‘me’ time in.

And then, I finally made time to write.

And then, thanks to a train delay, I think I will actually publish this before I get back to Chicago.