Before everything changed

There’s only one thing in the Facebook “Memory” at right that’s still the same: That barely-in-the-photo black cabinet at the top of the photo is what the TV sat on, and still does. The obvious changes are that Bella and Jake are both gone, but the footstool in front of me wore out after I moved to Kirikiriroa-Hamilton, my jeans are now cleaning rags, and whatever shoes I had on are probably long gone, too. Even the midday news I mentioned was cancelled by TVNZ in a “cost cutting” move (must’ve been more than a year ago now). And, of course, that scene happened in our last house together, nearly 8 months after we’d all shifted into it.

For me, this simple photo represents all the massive losses that began in early 2019, however, as is always true in life, it wasn’t nothing but bad news and sorrow after this photo: So MUCH good stuff happened after this photo, too!

Later that year Nigel and I went to Australia with the family to surprise his eldest sister for her birthday, and we visited Brisbane for the first time. Leo joined the family the following year, we made cool changes to the house (well, Nigel did the cool ones… I did the more ordinary-but-nice ones), Nigel had successes and recognition at work, and, as always, we had a LOT of fun times, sometimes with the wider family, sometimes with the fur babies, and even many adventures with just the two of us.

2019 was, of course, when everything started changing, and so much of what made us a happy family started to end. But even now, good things still happen, and that fact is how I managed to survive all the horrible stuff.

I still have a very long way to go, both in healing and in life in general, but the important thing is that my adventure continues. My former wonderful life travels with me everywhere and forms the foundation of the life I’m trying to build.

So, yeah, nearly everything in that photo from eight years ago has changed, including me, but my adventure continues. I hope you’ll continue to follow along to see what happens next.

I blogged about this at the time, and that post provided more background, as well as including the other photo I took, moments after the one in the FV “Memory”.