It's almost November and I'm trying to decide where the year has gone. We spent a year enjoying ourselves, had a long and busy early summer, and we're ending the year as strong as we can. I mentioned before that my sister was coming to stay for a week, then a friend, then my youngest sister for a few days, and after all of that we were going to AZ. We did all that, which made one exhausting June, but it was also rewarding to spend so much time with family in the early summer.
My sister being here was... a lot. Probably because we're so used to being alone, so our house is usually pretty quiet. In fact, my friend called our house her quiet place. But it was also nice to have her visit. Especially since I hadn't seen her in 16 years. That's far too long not to see your sister, but there you go. But, spending what amounts to two weeks together after 16 years apart is also a lot. We all made it work and had a good time, going out to Hells Hollow for walks and enjoying local treats, like the shop at the local apple orchard and a local donut shop.
We went to Arizona for my parents 50th anniversary and had a really nice time. I always enjoy visiting my family. We had an uneventful flight out there, enjoyed my parents 50th anniversary get-together, and then had a horrible flight home. So horrible, in fact, we probably won't fly American Airlines again. They literally told us our plane had an engine that wasn't working, then took off anyway, and flew at 5,000 feet for the last hour of the flight. It was terrifying and the landing, which is very aggressive because Pittsburgh's airport is on the top of a hill, and even though he played it cool, even the hubs got hives.
While we were in Arizona we got family pictures taken for the first time... ever. They came out really cute. Check us out...
I love these pics! I keep meaning to get some of them printed to hang in my hallway but haven't gotten to it yet. I hope to do that before the end of the year.
While we were in Arizona, my sisters and I got tattooed together, which means I went from having no tattoos to having two in a month! I got one flower because I'm the first. Middle sister got two and youngest got three flowers.
After we came back from Arizona, we spent the summer just enjoying ourselves until August when I started a new job. I won't talk too much about that, except to say that I returned to teaching in-person. Sadly, my out of control anxiety has made that difficult, particularly because my meds don't seem to be able to get both that and my depression under control at the same time. So, I don't sleep, I struggle not to throw up all the time, I spend a lot of time in the bathroom trying not to freak out, so I'm generally miserable and it seems to be getting worse, rather than better. If I was to try to analyze it, it might be that my former job is playing a role in my out of control mental health, but I'm trying not to overanalyze myself. So, it seems I'll be returning to teaching asynchronous online classes only. It's better that way, far less anxiety... I hope.
