Six months on

On New Years' Eve, Teresa and I often look back over the last year and marvel at what has happened, both good and bad, to our family. We're usually surprised by what's happened in the previous 365 days and would not have predicted much of it. That's what makes the past 6 months so difficult. Just about everything that's happened, we expected to happen. However, that doesn't make any of the changes any easier to swallow.

Just 6 short months ago, Aimee and I graduated from KU Law School. That was really no surprise, although there were plenty of times in the previous three years that I doubted that I would make it. Not because I wasn't smart enough. I was just tired of school and wanted to get back to real life. Teresa kept pushing me and I got through it. I also knew my mother was ill with cancer and would probably not make it to Christmas this year. She never even made it to Aimee's wedding in September. She died exactly two months after law school graduation and 11 days before the Kansas Bar Exam.

Aimee and I took that exam in July. We both passed and started jobs as attorneys. She and Ryan got married. I guess the only thing we didn't see was the economy going into the crapper. Six short months ago, I was a law student with an ailing mother. My daughter was about to get married. I owned one home. Today, I am an attorney (it still sounds strange to say that), my daughter is married (she's an attorney too) and has moved out, and I now own two homes--mine and my mother's. Things are much more complicated now. I'm not sure I like it, although there's not a lot I can do about it.

Even though all these milestones and tragedies were largely expected, that doesn't make adjusting to them any easier. When I sit back this New Years's Eve and ruminate on the year that is passing away, I'll say thanks for all the good things, shed some tears for the tragedies, and pray to God that 2009 is boring as hell. God knows I need some boredom along about now and that's what I'll be praying for.