Looking Back at 2015

Its that time of the year, 2015 is coming to a close and 2016 is about to come in and with the coming of the New Year I’ve been reflecting on the old and thinking about the new. 2015 has quite possibly been one of the worst years of my life. Needless to say, I’m not to sad to see its exodus from my life.

It started off pretty horrendously with my dad’s diagnosis with pancreatic cancer. Most of the winter was back and forth with trips to Ann Arbor for treatments. There are few things more difficult than seeing your father weaken before your eyes. We had a bit of hope when he was able to undergo surgery in June which successfully removed the tumor. However, nothing prepared us for the psychological break that would come in him afterwards. The cancer is gone, for now, but he is so broken I cannot recognize him as my father anymore. Looking back on the effect the treatment had on him and the way things are post surgery, I question whether it was worth it.

Regardless of what happens with him I will hold on to the shining memories of the trip to the Detroit Tigers baseball game with him and Mini Me and my brother. I used to love baseball when I was Mini Me’s age so it really meant a lot to my dad for all of us to take this trip together.

My dad felt like himself and we all had a great time and the Tigers even won!

The last year has also seen the further deterioration of my marriage into something that isn’t even recognizable anymore. It has turned into something without hope of ever recovering. There has been a lot of struggle for me in what to do and how to handle it.

My focus has been on the kids completely and that is what has kept me going through day by day. I managed to give them a spectacular summer that included trips to the water park with friends, time at the pool, trips to the library, the Color Run and ending it all with a big trip to Cedar Point.

Mini Me declared it the best summer ever and I was so glad that despite the turmoil, I was able to give them that.

Fall gave way to both kids starting school, Mini Me hitting double digits and celebrating and soccer!

I was also formally accepted as a candidate for ministry in the United Methodist Church in October which as led to a whole bunch of questions and head spinning for me and that journey will most likely begin in 2016.

We wrapped up the year with a pretty nice holiday although I will confess I found it very hard to take pictures during the holiday season so I don’t have any of those but the kids were happy and that made me happy.

I’ve made the best out of a rough year and I have some definite goals for 2016 that I will post tomorrow and hoping that maybe 2016 can be the year some things turn around for me.