2022 in review

Another year in the books. So let me review what was good and bad about 2022.

Highlights:

• Meeting Ooma. Meeting Ooma was, at the time, not just a highlight of the year but a highlight of my life. I said at the time that I was “smitten” and that is an apt description. The first two months were two of the happiest months of my life. Sadly, it didn’t last.
• Meeting Marlene, I was fortunate to meet a second wonderful woman in 2022. It is too early to tell if this relationship will last, but we were still having fun as 2022 ended.
• The Buckingham Blues Bar. Ooma introduced me to this establishment and I fell in love. Great music and cheap beer – a winning combination.
• The Thanksgiving trip to Oregon. It was a grueling trip both ways, but worth it as I got to meet my sister’s grandchildren and reconnected with her kids.
• The 10-week trip north (TN8 and TS8). This was a very long auto trip that had a mix of good and bad, but more good than bad.
• The trip to Austin (TX1). This was part of the “good months” with Ooma. A fun wedding and a chance to see some family for both of us.
• The trip to Orlando. This was a fun trip to a book award event – a first for me – and a chance to explore the Orlando area.
• The weekend in Naples with my cruise (PCL2) friends. A fun weekend with some fairly new friends.
• Getting the damage to the truck repaired (finally!). It took nearly 6 months to repair the damage from the tire blowout, but it finally got done. A relief.
• A visit from my son Frank. This was a lot of driving, but, overall, a nice visit.
• Winter softball. We didn’t win but my team did pretty well. And so did I.

Lowlights:

• Hurricane Ian. It is hard to describe the devastation caused by this storm. The whole southwest Florida area – which I now call home and have grown to love – will take years to recover. Heartbreaking.
• The breakup with Ooma. Two months of pure joy were followed by 4 months of conflict and, frankly, bafflement. A woman who I thought I knew became an enigma. I still don’t fully understand what went wrong, but it certainly did go wrong. The most devastating breakup of my life.
• COVID-19 for both me and Ooma. Three vaccinations were not enough to keep me and Ooma safe. I got it first and, fortunately, it was mild and I had recovered by the time Ooma got it later in July. Her case was worse.
• The floor rot in the RV. This was a surprise but shouldn’t have been. I should have questioned, when I first discovered the rot several years ago, what was causing it. I should have taken more aggressive preventative measures then, but didn’t. I think I have dealt with it now, but it was a lot of work and the fix is not flawless – the slide, when I bring it in, is not as smooth as it was pre-rot.
• Dodging tornados. Both hurricanes and tornados are things that I have a desperate need to avoid while living in an RV. But hurricanes provide more warning. Getting a tornado warning, grabbing the dog and escaping in the truck – twice – is not fun.

Bottom line: 2022 provided some intense highs and some intense lows. It is hard to say that it was a good year. But it wasn’t a totally bad year, either. It was a year that I finished. And at my age that is a good thing.