What a year this has been. With so many amazing ups and drastic downs, I wonder how I made it through it all. Actually, I almost didn't.

In March, my husband celebrated his 60th birthday with a party above all parties. So many friends and family attended with the awesome Diva Show Band playing and Mystery Hill (the band my husband was in 40 years ago) making a surprise performance and allowing my husband to join in. It was wonderful!

March also brought the amazing news that we were going to be first time grandparents around November 8th. Woo Hoo!

Also, in March, our niece got married to a terrific guy in a country themed ceremony and reception. Many loving family and friends were in attendance for the celebration.

In May, we lost our health insurance and couldn't afford Obamacare.

June was a turbulent month. The upside was that we had one great big family get-together to celebrate a few different important happenings. It was our daughter's 22nd birthday. And then there was the ground-breaking ceremony for our oldest daughter and her husband's property, next door to my Dad's for their new house to be built next year. Also, all my siblings were able to be together with our Dad for Father's Day. And, since the LA Kings won the Stanley Cup, my nephew had to shave off his treasured beard. All in all, it was a great day.
Then, the downside. A week and a half later, my Dad passed away due to a fall that caused bleeding in his brain. It wasn't immediate, so we were all able to spend a little time with him and say goodbye and as devastating as it was, it was peaceful for him and for us.

August was another wedding which was great because we got to see family members that we haven't seen in a very long time. I got to hug my aunt, my father's sister, one last time before she went back to her home in Florida. She had told me then that she wasn’t feeling good.

September was tumultuous. My aunt passed away due to that awful thing - cancer. She was a wonderful woman and is sadly missed.
The up side is that we adopted a puppy, a border collie mix that is absolutely the cutest thing ever. Her name is MyLo (short for My Love like in my book.)

October was the amazing up. Our grandson was born on Halloween. He is absolutely perfect in every way and I couldn't be happier. There are no words to explain how I feel about him, so I will leave it at that. My husband likes to say, "We went trick-or-treating at Sister's Hospital and they gave us a grandson." The best "goodie" ever.

November - also known as Snovember brought six feet of snow within a couple days. We were snowed in our homes, did lots of shoveling, travel bans all around, ran out of food... Couple days later, it had just about all melted.
Thanksgiving was great. Our daughter and soon to be son-in-law came back from Boston, MA to share it with us.
The day after Thanksgiving brought us another heartache. My cousin’s husband passed away. May he rest in peace.

December - Ugh! I had chest pains off and on for about a week and with no insurance, put off going to the doctor. We made plans to go to my doctor Dec. 3rd, but on Dec 2nd, the pains got too bad so my husband took me to the emergency room. After 3 tabs of nitro, they kept me comfortable through the night, then after tests on the 3rd, they did emergency surgery that evening. I had open heart with a triple bypass. They tell me I was seconds away from dying. I am now home and healing nicely. I thank God and all my family and friends for their prayers and good wishes that got me through. Now to face the stack of medical bills with no insurance. Any idea how much a week's stay in the hospital with open heart surgery and all the other add ons is? Ha!
Oh, and then to top it off, my grand dog had bloat and had to have emergency surgery. He too was very close to dying, but he is healing nicely, too. Yay!

Goodbye 2014. Time to Shake It Off! I'm still here and so ready for 2015.
God Bless You All. I hope 2015 brings you peace and happiness and good health!