21 Days to Go...

Starting to think about 2023. I know we are in what should be the crunch time of 2022 but...

We don't really do anything for Christmas anymore. We have our small traditions, the meals we eat, the movies we watch...but we don't do gifts. I haven't been doing the big all out decorating since we got the cats, I keep thinking maybe next year, but so far Tig has shown no signs of ever being a calm cat instead of a rowdy kitty. 

We would be doing the Teddy Bear Toss game tonight with the Winterhawks but Brent was one of those who ended up with rebound Covid so a positive test (no matter how faint the line, sweetheart) means that we are home for the weekend. 

We went and looked at Christmas lights, Lightopia, last weekend (when we thought Brent was over Covid since his test was, you know, negative) and it was cute, but really small. Not enough electricity there to jump start a HUGE holiday feeling. 

We've also got a Michigan Bowl Game on New Year's Eve so we won't do anything else (no traditional NYE Hawks game) holiday like there. And since New Year's Day is on a Sunday there won't be the college game feasting there either. 

It's just the way it goes now. Once your kids aren't kids you have a lull. And since Katie isn't planning on having kids of her own we won't be doing it all again with grandkids. Though, who knows, next year if they are all still together maybe we will have her whole crew up and have a major holiday. Or maybe Brent and I start traveling down there and celebrating with them. If they get a big enough place that I don't freak out over the number of people breathing my air...

But anyway...all of this together means I'm already looking toward 2023.

I found a way to transfer my pictures off of Facebook and maintain them in their albums. Or at least I found something that said that it will do that. I haven't tried yet. That will be a massive project, and I won't be able to capture all of the comments and conversations around them, but at least I'll have the photos themselves someplace orderly. So I will be working on getting that done. 

Though, honestly, I'm torn again on my reasoning for doing it. I had been planning to leave Facebook within the first quarter of 2023. I'm just over it. Too many ads, too many just really dumb people spouting off really dumb ideas. And I know I shouldn't think they are dumb just because they think differently than I do but some of them are just so fucking dumb. I mean the reason we think differently is because they, well, from what I can tell, they don't. So I was out. 

But then Kevin died.

I texted a couple of people who had pretty much left Facebook to let them know and then connected with a few more who are on Facebook sporadically. And was reminded again of the great community and social network and all of those things that Facebook was supposed to be, that we actually built. I thought about the kids I've known who now have actual kids of their own. The friends I have all over the world that I would not have if I had never gone on Facebook. The people I miss daily because they aren't online anymore. And do I want to lose even more of that?

So I don't know. I think I will still transfer all of the photos off and then see what I am feeling when I'm done.

I'll keep cultivating my list, dropping people off that don't need to be there anymore. And I am doing that more freely. I used to feel like I should explain to someone why I was dropping them. I would say, hey, this is the reason, this is what you posted that crossed my line, that hurt my heart. But now? I figure if you've been "friends" with me for even a brief amount of time it should come as no surprise that if you post a meme that is racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic or just plain assholish you are out of here. And to be perfectly honest and self aware, I don't expect most of those people to notice I'm gone, I assume they have tired of my hectoring and lecturing and have hidden me already. 

So 2023 I'll figure out my relationship with social media. 

I also think I'm going to lean back into creativity. Now that my estrogen levels are back up and I'm back to being dark and stormy but with sparkles I'm feeling the urge to write a bit more. Which is kind of a relief. I feel like I've been living in a drought and finally getting some rain. I had sort of convinced myself I didn't miss it at all, but when you've lived with the voices in your head for so long and they all go quiet it gets kind of lonely. 

And there will be some health related things. This year has been brutal. We have a high deductible plan, and this is the first year since Katie broke her ankle in college that we met it and the past two months have been FREE! ALL YOU CAN VISIT! medical trips. To be fair, it was me trying to correct a few long term things and I discovered that really they are just part of me now and if I try to fix one thing the wheels are falling off another. That's just the way it goes. And then with my sciatica being omnipresent for the past month or so I just feel old. So I'm looking at 2023 to find some sort of health balance. I want to live to 100, but not if it's living in pain. 

So that's the framework. Creative, healthy, socialish. Not socialist. That part's already taken care of..
I just need to fill in the particulars. 

How about you all? How is your holiday season going? Are you living the full 2022 experience or ready to move on to 2023 and see what new fresh hell it is going to bring? I mean...what fabulous things are in store!