A Review

Trent Reznor best described my life - every day is exactly the same. I wake up, make my way to the living room, and at night I go back to bed. I may draw, watch TV or movies, or putz around online during the day, depending on how I feel. On a really good day I can sit in the kitchen and cook something simple, or I can shower. Mostly, the days bleed into each other.

I can't manage a year in review, because I can't quite remember what happened earlier this year. But I can recall some good things that happened in the past month.

We had new taps installed in our kitchen sink. This may not sound exciting, but for me it was a really big deal. Firstly, the sink looks nicer now. The faucet is higher, so it's easier to rinse dishes and fill pots with water for making pasta. Secondly, I can use the sink independently. Our old hardware was ancient and the knobs were all but impossible for me to turn. I usually had to ask Daniel to either turn the water on or off for me, so I just avoided using the kitchen sink. Now there are levers that turn so easily that I'm still gobsmacked at the difference.

We went to Adelaide overnight for one of Daniel's medical appointments. The travelling wiped me out for a week, but I got to go to a mall. As a 90s mallrat, it was bliss. I even had a mall pretzel! It was more like a breadstick than pretzel, but the shape was right so I'm counting it. Rolling around that mall was the most normal I've felt in years. That said, stores need to stop overstuffing their space so that wheelchairs have enough clearance. Not every wheelchair user is able to move things out of their way, and my chair isn't particularly wide.

My Christmas was good, but bitter-sweet. It's been another year that I couldn't visit home. And to me, Christmas day is the end. I live for the anticipation and preparation for Christmas. I love the lead up that is the start of December. Once the gifts are handed out, it's all over and I get a bit sad because there's nothing left to look forward to. Except for my birthday the following day. I used to grumble jokingly about having a birthday so close to Christmas, but now I really could use some time between the two. I need recovery time after the smallest exertion. Can we celebrate hy half birthday instead? I don't want to complain though, because I had a lovely birthday. I saw my in-laws, was absolutely spoiled with gifts from family, and Daniel made strawberry shortcake for me.

Even though I can't remember much of anything before October, I'm still going to say it's been a pretty good year. My health hasn't declined too drastically, and I have some good memories. I have an incredible family, and my beloved cats. That's all I can ask for.