Finally after a couple rollercoaster years, 2022 wasn’t a bunch of crazy highs and lows. There were both, but not crazy swings.

The year started out with me having enough in my gun fund to finally upgrade my sidearm to a Smith & Wesson M&P9 2.0. It would be a bit before I could run some rounds through it, but it’s now riding in my holster. I have found that the aggressive stippling on grip likes to snag my cover garment more than expected, but I’m still liking it.

February the Ward household got hit with COVID. Damn, that was the worst sick I’d been in a very long time. The MIL, BIL, and SIL all got it. The Wife was like that one trailer in the trailer park the tornado just ignores. Which left her having to care for us. She was also the only one who could visit when BIL had to go to the hospital. Yeah, that wasn’t fun in any measure. It hit him hard and put him out of work for most of the year.

March was the first time since our wedding that The Wife and I actually go to go out to celebrate our anniversary. So, we moseyed up to St. Augustine for a few days. This would not be our only trips for 2022.

April and June were the months I lost both of my grandmothers – the last of my grandparents. In one of those odd coincidences, they died exactly two months apart. There were some heart wrenching decisions – such as whether I could make the trip out to see them. Fortunately, technology allowed me to have a final “face to face” call with my paternal grandmother. The one I made sure to call every Thursday. It’s still odd when I remember I don’t need to call her after work on Thursday.

May is also when I wrapped up reposting Zombie Strike on the blog. Which meant no Monday Fiction. It would be a while before Monday Links would become the replacement. Although, Monday Fiction might make its return. If I can get some things done.

In June, I did my first speech to my Toastmasters club in two years. The club finally began meeting in person again this year. And I felt it was time to get back up on the horse – so to speak. I would go on to give two more speeches this year. In addition, The Wife and I agreed to become officers again in our Toastmasters club.

August was the month we went down to one car. Well, The Wife and I went down to one car. The MIL still has hers. Yet, after much discussion, The Wife and I became the proud owners of the Ward Wagon. Later that month, we would host the great-niece’s second birthday party. The Wife and crew made the house look like Disney vomited inside it.

September was the month we lost our sphinx Titus. This was a hard loss because it was so sudden. Titus was one of the most people-friendly cats I’ve known, and his loss put a big hole in the house. Then we had to deal with Hurricane Ian. This was the first big storm in the new house, and we were afraid we were looking down at a Hurricane Andrew-type event. We had to pull out the storm screens and get things rearranged. Then it was twenty-four hours of watching the storm. Fortunately, our house came through without issue.

October was the month where three years of planning finally saw us going out west. Both The Wife and I have family in Idaho and Washington State. So, we spent a couple of weeks visiting/introducing each other to our respective sides.

November saw us on the road again as The Wife’s job had her come up to New York to meet some of her coworkers IRL. And since I can do my job from anywhere there’s internet, I went up with her. Which resulted in her going around while I stayed in the hotel room. After we got home, we had some discussions on the clowder. And ended up bringing home a new kitten – Freya. Adding a kitten has done some interesting things to the clowder. It’s been amusing to see which cats warmed up to her – and which ones were very annoyed by the new one’s presence.

December has been relatively quiet – except for the onslaught of holiday parties, holiday shopping, and prepping for hosting Christmas dinner. I also got a new iPad which helped with boosting my writing on my fantasy novel. Maybe I’ll finish it. Sometime.

Onward to 2023.