Each year since 2019 seems to have been worse than the one before it.

2020 featured a not very severe virus that was used as an excuse to make much of the world prisoners in their own homes. That in turn lead to riots that were intended to, and did, change the course of a Presidential election.

That election was, shall we say, of dubious honesty. We ended up with a corrupt moron sitting in the Oval Office with someone else pulling the strings.

2021 continued the silliness with even more ridiculous efforts to end the not so serious pandemic plandemic. The spring insanity was the government in the form of the senile fool in the Oval Office telling us that if we took the magic shot of undetermined efficacy we could all go back to our normal way of living.

A lie.

The fake insurrection was used as an excuse to attack the freedoms we’ve enjoyed for 250 years.

On a personal note, both of our lovely cats and my Mother in Law passed away. While all were difficult the death of our first cat in the spring was particularly painful as the veterinary hospital wouldn’t allow us to come to be with him in his last moments. There was no reason for that other than our state’s health department imposing more stringent rules on veterinary facilities than human medical facilities. I never understood that and it still makes me mad.

Despite my spry 102 year old Mother in Law not being very ill, we couldn’t visit her for the 10 days she was in the hospital. She was cleared of COVID and release to a rehabilitation facility where she got very ill very quickly. Despite the best efforts of a pretty good hospital, she lingered for a week and then died. At least we got to visit her even though she wasn’t conscious.

Simultaneously our other cat got very ill and I decided to spend more money that was reasonable to keep her alive so that my wife didn’t have to deal with both of them dying at the same time.

Family things made that a teeth grinding process.

2022 continued to the suckage of the two years before. Nothing specific, but of course inflation, shortages of everything due to shipping problems across the globe, and the increasing division in this country made things worse.

Mrs. EMS Artifact was responsible for settling her mothers affairs and again that was a teeth grinding affair thanks to her sister.

During the course of the year I accelerated my efforts to get our house in saleable condition. I’d been doing that starting a couple of years after I retired, but I did more in 2022 as the agreement that Mrs. EMS Artifact and I came to was that once her mothers estate was settled we’d put the house on the market and move south. There were multiple reasons to move south, among them family, weather, politics, and finances.

2023 came and in some ways it’s been both the best and worst post COVID year.

The year started with a minor car crash that put me in a rental car for a month. I was lucky because the body shop I use was quoting 2-3 months due to the difficulty in getting parts. I’ve done enough business with the owner over the years that he squeezed my truck in and got it fixed.

In the middle of January, my best friend of over 40 years died. Not suddenly, but slowly from Dementia and other medical issues. The Dementia and other issues worked together to make his illness untreatable and his ordeal over three years.

For some, maybe much, I blame the COVID response. His Dementia was first diagnosed in late 2019 and when COVID came along the hysterical response delayed routine medical care for months and months. As his condition worsened, he became more difficult to deal with. At some points I was the only person he’d listen to and at some points he wouldn’t listen even to me.

It was very difficult for all of us to watch him die by degrees.

In May a long time co worker died after a long illness. Not unexpected, but another co worker cheated out of a well deserved retirement.

In late June a friend of about twenty years died. His death was unexpected by everyone but him. He knew he had a terminal illnesses, but didn’t want to burden anyone with his problems. His funeral took place while my wife and I were out of state, so we missed the chance to say goodbye.

Things seem to have started turning around in late Summer, but not without a few hiccups. In September we completed preparations to put our house in the Northeast up for sale. We also flew down to Texas to look at properties. We found a house we liked and at the same time we had an acceptable offer for our house.

We committed to the house in Texas with a seven day opt out. Which worked out as our “buyer” turned out to be a nut case and she backed out at the last possible minute. So, we had to back out of our house.

It looked like we’d be stuck in the Northeast forever, but our realtors both there and in Texas did yeoman’s work and getting our house back on the market and sold, as well as finding another house in Texas.

All of this shortened our timeline for moving by almost a month. We head to be out of our house before the end of October, but couldn’t close on the house in Texas until right before Thanksgiving. We spent a frantic month packing up Forty-Three years of living and getting it on the moving truck and then into storage.

Then we lived in hotels for almost a month. Hotels are nice, but you don’t want to live in one for a month with only a week’s worth of clothing and belongings. At least we didn’t.

November passed and we moved into our new home. That went pretty smoothly, except for the part where we needed a section of sewer line replaced because of a tree root that insisted on breaking into it.

We had Thanksgiving with our daughter and her boyfriend. We keep hoping that something will happen along those lines, but of course we have no control over that.

Side note to any Dads reading this who happen to have cute little daughters. After they turn about 12, you will have NO control over their lives. None, even if you think you do. Instill good values in them when they are in the single digits and you’ll be fine.

Anyway, we’re now on the verge of 2024. I’m back to what passes for work, we’re getting comfortable in our new state, county, city, and house.

I can only hope that 2024 turns out to be a better year than were the previous three.