Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Recap, Part 1
Okay--
I think we were still being pretty good about communicating during the big events of 2004--Xan's trip to the emergency room, my broken wrist, and maybe even the flood that trashed the basement at our old apartment--so I'll start the recap with our new apartment.

We had talked about moving out of the old place well before it flooded(noisy college idiots for neighbors, leaky plumbing, cramped quarters), but a foot of water in our basement and no clean-up help from the rental company really nailed it down. Thanks to Xan's Mom, we found a really amazing place in a much nicer neighborhood--for way less rent! Now we enjoy hardwood floors, cool built-in details, and lots more space--my favorite apartment to date.

Xan found a new job in October, after a long stint at B&N. Now she's working for Medco--I'll let her write about that if she wants to. In November, a Chinese food Thanksgiving at the Hess House, then fun at the Mid-Ohio Con--meeting up with friends like Steve Lieber and Sara Ryan. Christmas at home in the new pad. I finished the final page of the final issue of Tom Strong on New Year's Eve--very emotional and odd for me.

I would like to say that that was the only "new beginning" I had to make in January, but I can't. Max had been ill since October, and the vets warned us it could be something minor or something major--the only way to tell would be to treat him for one and see what happened. We treated him for the minor illness(he probably wouldn't have survived treatment for the major illness), but it turned out to be the other one. On January 10th, we had to say goodbye to the "little" guy. He was with me for 17 years, my entire adult life, through every possible good and bad event, and losing him was awful. I knew this was coming some day--he was 17 years old, and had pretty much lost his hearing--he was not a young cat. I just wasn't prepared for the emptiness and the quiet that was there so suddenly where he used to be.

Gotta go now--more later in Recap, Part 2
--C

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