2019 Holiday Letter

Hi-de-ho, friends, family, and people who follow(ed) me on social media and clicked the link! 

Happy end of 2019 to you and yours!  There's a lot to unpack, so let's get started!

Pretty much right after I posted last year’s letter, I met someone. We ended up seeing each other for a few months, and while he was a perfectly lovely man, things did not work out. I can’t say I was heartbroken by the end of our time together. It wasn’t traumatic or dramatic. It just ended and that’s fine. Actually, better than fine, much better than fine, but I’m getting ahead of myself...

Other than that relationship ending, the spring was relatively uneventful until I took two trips in April. The first was to Florida. The second trip was to... the emergency room.

The first trip was awesome! I was honored to be asked to be a speaker at a conference for work. The subject I spoke on is one that I’m annoyingly motivated about - but when I tell people about it their eyes tend to glaze over. Instead I will just link you to this video and you can watch it if you are so inclined. 


I’m so proud of this program and so supportive of what we’re trying to achieve together, so needless to say I was delighted to speak on it. The conference was held in Tampa, Florida, a place I had never been nor imagined I’d go to on purpose. I didn’t see a lot of it, but I did get a nice tour of the University of South Florida campus, and had a fancy drink at a trendy bar. And I took a great selfie.

I make no secret that I go bananas for all things Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter. Despite living next door to a state that houses their own version of each, but my happy places are in Orlando. So OBVIOUSLY I had to take a 90 minute drive north and worship at the House of Mouse and Hogwarts for a few days.

The last time I was in Orlando, I got super sick at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and didn’t get to experience it as fully as I had hoped. So that was my first stop. OH MAH GAWSH! It was so much better than the last time I was there because I wasn’t sick! That’s place is ... wait for it... magical. It’s so well done and it really is like stepping into a different world. I get so much joy from these stories so to go spend a day in that world was so fun.

And then because my inner child wasn’t getting spoiled enough, I decided to treat her to a trip to Disney World. As much fun as the Magic Kingdom was, there were so.many.people that I decided to spend some time over at Hollywood Studios. Of course, Magic Kingdom is my favorite Disney park, but my love of movies - and The Muppets - made Hollywood Studios a wonderful place to visit. And there were far fewer (unhappy screaming) humans.

I got back to Phoenix on a Sunday and the following Friday I had off and went to visit a friend for happy hour. Please note I had exactly one half of a can of cider and it had exactly no impact on the next part of the story. After a lovely visit with my friend, I looked up and saw a tow truck. Since the spot I parked in was questionable, I automatically assumed they were there to tow my car. So, I told my friend I was going to move my car and I headed out to the parking lot. 

It looked like this, but no rock. 

I had laser focus on my car and my sole and only purpose was to make sure my car didn’t get towed. My true purpose should have been on watching where I was walking because the sidewalk I was walking on ended at a curb, which I did not realize. I figured it out really quickly when I found myself falling into thin air (a whole 4 inches into thin air).

It was one of those moments where time slowed down and knew immediately that when I landed it was going to be bad. I was right. When I landed, I landed smack dab on top of my right ankle, which rolled in the process.  

Of course I fell in front of people (because why keep my personal shame to myself?), and there was a VERY long duration where no one moved. I hoped to God that I just sprained it really badly but when I tried to get up it was clear that I had a problem. Finally, one of the people who witnessed my folly helped me up and another person went and moved my car for me.

Let me say now: going shock is a useful trick the body pulls. 

Despite my ankle looking like THIS right after I fell, I was able to limp back inside, wish my friend goodbye, and then DROVE MYSELF HOME (I was a mile away from my house). I did this by pressing my foot down on the pedals by lifting my leg at the knee and moving that way versus moving the ankle.

I got home and did what any grown ass adult does: I called my mom.

Of course, that specific afternoon, Mamala was at the movies and her ringer was off. I sent her a text too. After 10 minutes I decided to do the next best thing: I DROVE MYSELF TO THE HOSPITAL using the same method I used to get myself home. Before doing so, I wrapped my ankle in an ace bandage as tightly as I could to stabilize it.

Not going to lie: I don’t remember a whole lot between leaving my house and getting to the hospital. I do remember the parking lot being very very very far away. I got to the reception desk to check in and then and only then did all the pain kick in. I think my body realized I was in the right place and then the adrenaline wore off. Which apparently is actually how going to shock works. Fascinating!

Mom met me at the ER and promptly yelled at me for driving myself to the ER and not waiting for her or calling 911. I told her there was no way, I was going to take an ambulance for a possibly broken ankle when there are truly sick and injured people out there. Later someone asked me why I didn’t take a Lyft or Uber and that thought never entered my mind. I would later find out from one of my many many many Lyft drivers that they actually aren’t able to take people to the hospital in emergency situations due to liabilities, which makes sense.

Turns out I didn’t break-break my ankle.  I fractured the talus.  And I somehow didn’t tear any ligaments or tendons.  Just sprained them.  I was in a boot for 8 weeks and on a knee scooter (please take a moment to visually picture that) and a brace for a month and started on steroid injections.  The injections were supposed to provide relief for up to two years.  Turns out the lasted a shorter than anticipated.  I have a noticeable limp and am in pain.  But the good news is I also still have my back issues. So more often than not I am in pain.  But it is what it is.  I’m still grateful for everything I have.

Anyway, as you can tell from the whole me driving myself home and to the hospital, I’m not exactly one who is good at accepting help and I sure as heck don’t ask for help. Whether it’s because I am a first-born, or a Virgo, or a classic “Type A” personality, I have this innate drive to do everything myself.

I bet you’re expecting me to say this whole broken ankle thing taught me to ask for and accept help. Well, to that I say HA FRICKIN' HA! Being dependent on people was not easy for me.  I didn’t learn any life lessons from this ordeal. What I learned is that y’all don’t do things the way I do - and my way is so much better!!!!! Just kidding. Sort of. #controlfreak

But in all seriousness I appreciate all of the help I got from people and I truly don’t know what I would have done without the support I got. Biggest shout out goes to Mom of course. She was my rock as usual. There isn’t anything I can say here that I haven’t said before. It’s safe to say my mom is better than your mom.

And that is how I spent my spring.

My summer was spent recuperating and complaining and sweating.

And then life got interesting in the fall.

If you’ve read these blogs for any amount of time, you know I’m a victim of online dating. I say victim because online dating is horrific. Most of the times. But sometimes - just sometimes - it’s frickin’ awesome.

Updated At Some Point in 2020 to Remove References to the Ex!!

Another new addition to my life is a semi-monthly Cousins Night.

I come from a large annoying loving family. There are a LOT of cousins (something like 16 of us). Unfortunately, our family unexpectedly lost our eldest cousin Deb this year. Deb’s immediate family lost a daughter and sister. The extended family lost a niece and cousin. It was a sad reminder that our generation is getting older than any of us care to admit. Three of my cousins and I have been getting together once every other month or so for random events. Generally, those events have involved drag queens (much to 75% of our group’s delight).

If you’re still reading this, kudos to you!  What a trooper!  Thank you so much for taking the time to read my error-filled silly stories about my silly random life.  I hear from a few of you once a year through this blog and that along makes it worth it!

I hope that 2020 brings you joy, peace, and blessings!  Be good to one another! 

Here's hoping you all have as much fun in 2020 as my HLM and I do on a Saturday afternoon!