My Favorite…Thing About 2017

My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive.

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Thing About 2017

My favorite thing about 2017 was strengthening relationships with certain individuals in my life.

It was the second year with my new partner after my first one left to go to elementary. She has grown to be one of my closest friends and continues to tell everyone that she’s just ignoring the fact that one day I will leave and that The Man will buy a house in the city we work in and then I’ll never leave her. She is a great support and friend and I am so blessed to have met her and get to work with her.

This summer both The Man and I suffered deadly blows with our fathers. While his father was here in Texas visiting – the purpose for which was to scope out and begin the process of purchasing a home here – we learned he has cancer and it is inoperable. The visit had a somber tone and the house hunt was off. A painful blow came the day the biopsy results came back. Just two days later, my father suffered The Widowmaker and somehow lived. These blows have made us even closer and strengthened our bond. While The Man is a loner type and almost like an only child (he has a younger delinquent-like stepbrother), he is often the stoic silent type and he did not grow up with the sense of family and closeness that I did, being one of 21 grandkids and my family all local, seeing them and being with them all the time. However, this has drawn us closer together and I think given him a change in perspective about family.

My relationship with my mom has continued to become better and stronger over the years since we reconnected. Our lives were not rainbows and sunshine in any form for over a decade, and now we are like two peas in a pod almost two decades later. She is another facet of my rock in equal measures with The Man and my two work wives.

I also learned how to tell people no and let things go or not get to me. Last school year I kept getting things heaped on my plate and didn’t feel like I had a choice. After all, there are a million things that can be considered “other duties” within my teaching contract and I held accountable for above and beyond. I have grown stronger myself in choosing to tell people no and to ignore things I can’t control, despite how I feel about them or how much those events interrupt the lives of those I care about. Sometimes you have to let go and not look back. Hopefully, at some point, those you care about are once again there walking beside you after taking their detour.

What was your favorite thing about this year?