What can I say about 2018? It can suck a bag of dicks. I’ll even disregard the general shitty state of world politics etc but my beloved stepfather was taken from us much too quickly and much too soon. Watching my niece and my nephew cry over yet another massive loss in their lives has broken my heart. It isn’t just my family either, so many of my loved ones and friends lost parents or close family members in 2018. I know it’s just that I’m at “that age,” that age where the generation before me begins to die. I’m just not ready for it.
2018 can also be called the year I ran the least, though I did have some good (slow) races, and the year I ate out the most instead of cooking at home. Partially because my health sucked- I started the year still recovering from shingles and ended it with a terrible URI that became bronchitis- and partially because I took a break from having a CSA, so I wasn’t forced to ensure I wasn’t wasting by routine. I plan to change all this in 2019.
Despite all of that, I engaged in some amazing adventures over the year! Here’s a quick list:
- 1/2 Went cross country skiing for the first time
- 1/19-20 Performed on the stage for the first time since 1997 with Denver Women’s Chorus
- 1/28 Visited the Mother Cabrini shrine and drank from the natural spring there
- 3/2 Danced on stage at the Blue Nile with Kermit Ruffins and also shared a smoke with him 💃🏼
- 3/4 New Orleans half marathon 🏃🏼♀️
- 5/7 Visited Kermit’s Mother-In-Law Lounge (formally Ernie K-Doe’s) in the Treme
- 5/3-7 Went to my 6th New Orleans Jazz Fest and had my picture taken with Kermit (if you can’t tell, I’m a fan)
- 6/3 Ran my 4th Pride race
- 6/17 Marched in my 2nd Pride parade with AVER. 🏳️🌈
- 7/2 Climbed Challenge Stairway in Castle Rock
- 8/15 Visited South Dakota and Mount Rushmore
- 8/21 Sang the National Anthem at a Rockies game at Coors Field with Denver Women’s Chorus
- 8/25 Fell in love at first sight and adopted my first puppy, Satchmo
- 9/16 Attended the first Grandoozy Music Festival and saw The Soul Rebels, Snow tha Product, and Florence and the Machine
- 9/23 Saw Trombone Shorty, Cyril Neville, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and more FRONT ROW at Red Rocks. Best. Show. Ever! 🎺
- 12/4 Saw the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and drank from all 8 Manitou Springs’ springs
- 12/5 Climbed Mount Falcon with my friend, Bri, and Satchmo and saw the Summer White House ruins 🏔
- 12/31 Ended 2018 in the best way imaginable in my favorite place watching The Soul Rebels rock The Maison on Frenchmen St ⚜️ I could not have asked for a more magical or wonderful end to a dumpster fire of a year.
That was my brief interlude- I spent the holidays with my momma in Florida and in my favorite city, New Orleans, where for a few days, I could forget all the pain of the year and be present and joyful. I barely took any pictures, despite how beautiful she was with foggy evenings and gentle rains. I was so fortunate to get to enjoy those days and I definitely needed them. I needed to start 2019 off right and in the place of my soul.
So it was and now it is 2019. I’ve been healing some dancing wounds to my feet from New Year’s Eve, plus my lungs from the bronchitis, so I haven’t run but I’ve been ensuring I get my steps in and eat right. I’ve cooked loads already and it’s not even two weeks into the year. I’m hoping to fill this year with more adventures, more joy, and more beneficial changes (and hopefully no funerals).