There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one’s position, and be bruised in a new place.
~ Washington Irving

Life was amazingly different just one year ago, and reflecting on that, I came across the above quote and liked it. It fits last year better than this year … the seemingly endless stress and planning of cutbacks and layoffs were like the hypothetical stagecoach ride … although sometimes more of an amputation than a bruising. But you can only sit still so long and eventually—alright already—you’ve got to do something. Most of the changes I had a hand in orchestrating turned out okay. Some are downright great … working half-time, getting the opportunity to learn new things, to take better care of home, hearth and self. A year ago I was still working 50 hour weeks, still anticipating and fretting about cuts soon to come. Completely oblivious to other hard things about to happen, things for which we could not plan.

A year ago today, we were preparing for our Seattle vacation, for a break in the storm. A brief respite it was as we returned home to Joey’s first seizure. We couldn’t forsee that in less than three months, he’d be gone. Anymore than we imagined that we would lose Midnight and Charlie before the year turned. Or that Nicole would enlist in the Air Force!

The twists of life are strange and miraculous. Even before Midnight was gone, Grayson moved himself in. Then Noche showed up, wearing Joey’s colors but making his own place in our hearts, not taking Joseph’s. His puppy energy lifted our spirits and helped us through the dark days of Charlie’s decline. Nicole’s departure ultimately brought Haylee to us. Perhaps for reasons beyond the obvious. Perhaps to help heal old wounds.

I like to think that change can heal as well as bruise.

ps. Not everything is different. Lest we forget the constant in our sea-of-change … long live Penny Sue!