It’s the last day of 2018, so time to look back at what has been an amazing year, and to look forward to what might happen in 2019.

Learning

• I passed Calculus 30! I didn’t get it at all the first time I took it in first year university MANY years ago, and it always bothered me. So I had told myself, that someday when I retired, I would try again and succeed. And I did! Yay me!
• I learned to hula hoop! (Another thing I’d never been able to do, but was determined to someday.) I hired a teacher for myself and a group of friends on my birthday. It was a blast!

• I learned to play pickleball! It’s great and will give me something to do in the winter.
• I started a 2-year course in Lay Worship Leadership. It’s really interesting and it led me to giving my first service on Dec. 30th.

Books

• I had two books come out this year! Dear Me: The Widow Letters which I self-published through Driver Works Ink in Regina, and Grampa, Will You Tell Me a Story?, the first Pickles children’s book, which was published by Baobab Press in Nevada.

Travel

• I visited my son and his partner in Oregon this spring and stopped in to visit Bill’s cousin and his wife at Kootenay Lake on the way home. Very heartwarming.
• I went to St. Peter’s in Muenster for a writer’s retreat this summer. Very productive.
• Posey and I went to Kimball Lake for a week in August. Very relaxing.
• I went with my friends Adele and Ray to Ecuador for 2 weeks of birding in December. Very awesome!

Events

• Performers I saw this year included Tom Cochrane, Matt Anderson, Michael Kaeshammer, Melissa Etheridge, and the Saskatoon Symphony (doing the music of Harry Potter).
• The 1st (Annual, I hope!) Saturday Morning All You Can Eat Cereal Cartoon Party at the Broadway was soooo much fun!
• I ran (?) 10K in the Saskatchewan Marathon.

A pretty darn good year, I’d say!

So what’s new for 2019?

• I turn 60! To celebrate I’m going to try 60 new things throughout the year. Wish me luck! Should be fun.
• I have a wack of bird pictures from Ecuador to go through. That should take a good part of 2019!
• I’m going to work on another anthology – Dear Me: The Mother Letters, written by women who have experienced the death of their child.
• I’m going to visit the Yukon with my friend Myrna. She’s calling it the MAD Adventure (Myrna And Dianne). I just hope it doesn’t turn into the DAM Adventure!
• I’m going to see one of my favourite bands – Lighthouse!

I continue to put one foot in front of the other without Bill. It’s been four years, and somehow I still can’t really believe he’s gone. And in a way, he isn’t. Love lives on, and for that I’m grateful.

Happy New Year!