Snake to Horse.

[bluealoe]

Here we are again. Another year gone, and I an honestly say it was one of the more eventful ones. The theme of the year was "changes, changes, changes."

 

The big thing is that we moved halfway across the world. We're living in Ireland, and both of us are attending school. It was a very long and complicated process that ended up happening very quickly. We'd been working on plans for several months, but only got confirmation that it would happen in July. And by the middle of September, we were in Ireland. It's been a whirlwind.

 

Moving to Ireland involved selling our house, which was very bittersweet, and leaving our jobs, which was good for Rory and very mixed for me. I was getting very burned out and was ready for a change, but I also really miss my co-workers, plus feeling competent at something. Going back to school has been a major adjustment. And leaving our friends, support network, and familiar surroundings was all very difficult. Not to mention adjusting to a new country, with all the accompanying bureaucracy. But despite the stress, I still think it was

the right decision.

 

Moving also involved getting Umi to Ireland. Transporting a horse from Alaska to Europe is unbelievably complicated and ridiculously expensive, but we agreed that we would only move if he could come with. He's part of the family, and we weren't leaving him behind. We used up a lot of our savings to get him here, but it's been totally worth it. The first few weeks were rough, but getting to see him graze in a field full of green Irish grass is so fulfilling. I love seeing him so happy.

 

In other pet news, Leopold continues to be his weird self. But overall he's a very good kitty. And in the middle of planning the move to Ireland, we managed to acquire another cat. In June, a stray cat showed up at our house and decided we were her humans. We tried to find an owner; we reported her to the shelter, checked for a microchip, posted on Facebook, the whole nine yards. But no owner ever came forward, and after a month I had to bow to the inevitable and admit we were bringing two cats to Ireland. It made our lives more complicated, but we didn't have much of a choice. Her name is Ester, she's about three years old, and she's a total sweetheart. I really never thought we'd adopt another cat while we still had Leopold, but Ester had her own ideas.

 

Other things that happened this year:

 

-Quite a bit of travel: In February I got to travel to a rural village with my co-worker to do some outreach work at the local school. It was quite an adventure to get there (three plane rides), but it did remind me why I love rural Alaska. 

At the end of February Rory and I went to Calgary to check out a school; it turned out not to be the right place for us, but we did get to visit the zoo and see giraffes!

In August I went to Seattle to visit my sibling and go to a Paul Simon concert, which was absolutely amazing and a definite highlight of the year. Paul Simon has been my idol for a long time, and being able to see him in concert was probably as near to a religious experiences as I will ever have.

Then of course, in September we moved to Ireland. We've done a little bit of travel around the area, mostly to Kilkenny and Waterford, but haven't had time to really explore yet.

 

-On the sad side, we lost Ringo. He'd been living with my mother-in-law for a year and a half, and things were going very well, but in the end his aggression issues meant she couldn't keep him. It was heart-wrenching, but he lived a good life and was loved deeply.

 

-My father-in-law and his partner visited in June. I survived and didn't murder anyone, which I think is quite an achievement on my part.

 

-I started the year with gum surgery, which meant I couldn't chew anything for a week. I never realized how important chewing was until then. It was a looooong week. Luckily it healed well and I seem to be fine now. No other major health issues this year, although my foot has been bothering me the last few months. I'll get it checked out eventually.

 

-I finished watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries; caught up on Murdoch Mysteries, Sister Boniface, and Father Brown; watched all of Monsters at Work, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Frankie Drake Mysteries, Ms. Fisher's Modern Mysteries, Rosemary and Thyme, Win Or Lose, Dalgliesh, Carmen Sandiego, Derry Girls, and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts; and am now working my way through Hetty Wainthropp Investigates.

 

-My mom came to visit after Christmas, and is staying through the first week of January. It's been nice having her here; I do miss seeing her regularly, although some distance is good. :)

 

I'm sure there's a lot of other things that happened this year, but those are the big ones. The Ireland thing is obviously the major change; so much of my daily life is now different from a year ago. But I still have Rory and Umi and the cats and my family and my friends, so there are still good things.

 

Things I wanted to do in 2024:

-Keep working with Rory on communication and relationship skills: An ongoing project, but I think we did well. A few minor hiccups, but considering we successfully coordinated a move halfway across the world, I'll call it a win.

-Read 26 books: I read 32 (including the one I plan to finish tonight). I'd say that's a success :)

-Try making one new recipe a month: I made a new recipe every month through July, then the Ireland thing messed up my routine. But I did over half the year, so that's not bad.

-Call Gary at least once a month: Major fail on this one, and I have tremendous guilt about it.

-By this time next year, be living somewhere else: The big goal, and we did it, which I'm still in awe of. Sometimes I look around me and I can't believe we pulled it off.

 

Things I'd like to do in 2025:

-Keep working with Rory on communication and relationship skills

-Start doing yoga again.

-Read 28 books.

-Successfully finish my program, including writing a thesis, and graduate.

-Still be living in Ireland this time next year. This is the big one; both our school programs are only a year long, so it's a major question if we'll be able to stay. It's a gamble we took when we moved here, and I'm really hoping it pays off.

 

I admit I'm terrified of what's ahead, if we'll be able to stay here. There's a lot of uncertainty. But we accomplished a lot in 2025, so at least I can look back in satisfaction.

 

Goodbye to the year of the snake, and welcome to the year of the horse. I think that's a good omen; horses are always good luck. May the new year be kind to us all.