That time of year again

(About my annual blog post: Twitter seems to better suit my A.D.D., which is why I don't come 'round these parts too often, but it's probably good for the soul to sit back and reflect every once in a while, no?)

Kyle and I spent our Valenversary this year filling our gullets with comfort food via trips to Tip-Top, Dirty Frank's, Pistacia Vera and The Dube; sharing a Holiday Inn with a swarm (flock? school?) of biker dudes and biker ladies; and mucking about Columbus' finer big box stores in search of kitchen organization tools.

Ah yes. Because we bought a house. Bought it Oct. 30, Moving Day was Dec. 6, Get All of The Rest of Our Shit Out of There Day was Dec. 31 (because what better way to spend New Year's eve then by sweeping--while weeping--at 9:30 p.m. that night?). Jan. 1 was No, Seriously, Let's Get That Lamp and That Chair Out of the Old House Day, and we've been at our new house ever since. Seventy-five percent of the time, I manage to give people the correct address for the new place. Homeownership is lovely, for the most part, except for when I look into my bank statements and find that 90 percent of my income is going straight to Lowe's.

Last year had its highlights--the aforementioned home purchase, the celebration of our one-year wedding anniversary--but mostly it was one of intense heartbreak. Sollie died, suddenly, awfully and on Kyle's birthday, and just thinking about him and how much I still miss him makes me ache. Not in a metaphorical way--my muscles tense up and my bones hurt in the way the arm I broke as a kid hurts before a spring storm. I miss that damn dog so much.

So, yeah, there's that.

And then there's the job stuff, and well, let's just say I am fond of the people I work with and am happy to be working with them; in the interest of personal preservation I'll stay mum on the rest.

Yeah.

But to leave this post on a similarly sentimental note to the previous post, I would be remiss if I didn't talk--or, more accurately, gush--about Kyle. He has been tremendous through the madness of the last 365 days. He is a strong, kind, honest and fundamentally good person, and is a source of measureless comfort and support. Each day I am with him--even the days where we inevitably work each others' last nerve--I feel my love for him grow and our relationship strengthen. It is a joy to be his partner.