It has been several years since I have been choosing My One Little Word of each New Year.....
What this means is choosing One Little Word to focus on for the upcoming New Year......
Last year, My One Little Word was PEACE!!!!!
Some good and some not so good.....
It started on February 14th.......
Yes, Valentine's Day........
I was at work and it had rained even though it was not called for by the local meteorologists..
The rain froze causing sidewalks to become skating rinks........
Fearful that I would fall and break my neck when I got home from work, I called Joe and asked him to put down some Ice Melt.....
While outside, spreading the Ice Melt, Joe took a flipper on the ice and after a trip to Urgent Care, he ended up with a broken rib and a broken wrist!!!
That one incident put him out of work for 8 weeks but he was able to collect short term Disability from Wegman's even though he only works 15-20 hours a week!!!
In April, a Benefit was held for my Nephew John who was recently diagnosed with Colon Cancer...
The Benefit exceeded all expectations and was attended by so many generous people...
We were thrilled to see that our nephew had so many people that loved and cared for him.....
My nephew is still receiving treatment and holding his own......
We have grown close to him and his family this year which has been a great Blessing!!
On June 13th, I was home watching TV about 10 pm.......
Joe had already gone to bed when the Tornado Warnings came on the TV.....
I woke Joe up when I heard that they were saying a tornado was sighted near downtown Wilkes Barre and was heading towards the Shopping District in Wilkes Barre Twp where we live....
We thought it was crazy that the rain was blowing inside the house through the air conditioner in the living room window and the shade was blowing out into the Living Room!!!
Joe checked the front of the house and I checked the back for damage, finding none......
Then we heard on the TV that multiple buildings in the Shopping Center right next to our development were destroyed!!!
Joe and our oldest son quickly took a ride down the street and could not believe what they saw.....
Thank God no one was seriously hurt....
We realized that we were very lucky to still have our house and our lives for that matter after we saw this Path of the Tornado printed in the newspaper.....
If the Tornado would have gone straight after hitting Barnes and Nobles through the parking lot, and hit Lowe's and kept going straight, it would have hit our townhouses which are directly behind Lowe's.....
You can see that the Tornado just missed us.....
This "Unexpected Occurrence" shook me right down to the core of my being.......
It was almost like a "Near Death" experience and it took me a few weeks to shake that feeling.....
Some stores had to be torn down and some were gutted to the studs and rebuilt and are now reopened,
Some stores have relocated to other areas in the Wyoming Valley....
The crazy weather continued for most of the Summer and has continued right up to the end of the year.....
I had had a lot of plans for the Summer and lots of projects that I wanted to get done.......
This past Summer became the most Humid and Wettest on record here in NEPA!
In fact, 2018 became the wettest year on record!!!!
And it rained on New Year's Eve too!!!
I spent most of the Summer stuck in the house with the air conditioners blaring!!
Maybe this year in 2019, I will be able to get some of those projects done that I could not do last year.....
In September, something amazing happened........
I have not been able to write about this on this blog or on my face book site because of privacy issues but what I can now say is on September 21, our youngest son Jim's girlfriend Danielle, with whom he has lived with for the past 10 years, bought a $20 Pennsylvania Lottery Scratch Off ticket.....
She was extremely lucky and won a very large sum of money!!!
This enabled her to pay off large amounts of student loans , the car that they owned and other bills......
And they then decided that they would get married!!
They wanted a simple ceremony and did not want anyone to spend any money on them....
So on November 28th, Jim and Danielle were married and a beautiful ceremony by a local magistrate!!
Since April, the patient census in my department had been low.......
Word is that Medicare and Health Insurances were not paying for Inpatient Acute Rehab....
The writing was on the wall but I was really hoping that my department would stay open until the Spring of 2019........
But that was not to be.......
I was off for a few days from work when I received an email on face book from a former co worker and friend of mine that my rehab department were I had worked for the past 36 years, was closing!
No, I did not find out as I should have from my Unit Manager nor did half the staff on my department!
This "Unexpected Occurrence" has nearly broke me......
With less then a year to go before I have my knee replacement surgery and retire, I am now being forced to work on an Acute Medical Surgical floor ( which is what they turned my department into),
I have not worked acute care for 36 years.......
Apparently, a few inservices and 2 days of orientation on an Acute Med Surg floor is all the training that they feel is needed to function as an acute care nurse........
The stress of this transition is pretty much killing me .........
And I think that a lot of that stress had to do with me ending up with the Flu and Gastroenteritis for the entire week between Christmas and New Year's forcing me to cancel our traditional New Year's Eve and New Year's Day dinners for my family...
I have not been this ill in quite some time.......
I had a fever of 102 for several days and then diarrhea for 5 days....
I am finally feeling better now......
So you see, 2018 was far from the peaceful year that I had hoped it would be.......
Instead, it became a year filled with so many "Unexpected Occurrences" both good and bad.....
I am actually glad that 2018 is over and I sincerely hope that 2019 is a better and calmer year.....
As to what my One Little Word for 2019 is, I have thought long and hard......
Joe thought that it should be "Countdown" as I count down to my retirement at the end of the year!
My focus for this year is basically going to be getting ready for my Knee Replacement surgery which I hope to have done in October.
I need to keep doing my stationary bike to strengthen the muscles in my right leg and I need to try to take some weight off so it will be easier for me to move around after the surgery.....
My stress level this year has been through the roof.......
I need to try to remain calm and focus on what is important to me like my family, my home and my health..........
I need to reduce the amount of Stress that I recently have been feeling because of my job situation.....
I need to focus on doing the best job I can do in the situation that I have been forced into .......
I also need to realize that I only have a short time left in which I need to function in this situation....
So, have you picked up what My One Little Word is going to be for 2019?????
FOCUS!!!!!!
And I need to stop Stressing over things I have no control over and FOCUS on What Really Matters......
So there you have it.....
My One Little Word for 2019 is FOCUS!!!
I hope you will be back to visit again soon.......
And thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!
If you do not have a blog, PLEASE give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment. If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......
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Wish you a very happy new year!
ReplyDeleteI hope 2019 will be better for you Debbie. I am glad you are starting to feel better.
ReplyDeleteWow! Debbie you did have a lot of turmoil in 2018. I hope this year is better for you. I am waiting for cataract surgery. There is a long list and I was told it won't happen soon. Wishing you the best for 2019,
ReplyDeleteThat sure was a very eventful year! Cath
ReplyDeleteI would think after 2018, you need to relax a bit. I pray that 2019 is a year that allows you to recover from the previous year. God Bless You. I have a friend that lives in Wilkes-Barre too.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year and I hope your New Year goes much better then 2018 for you. I am happy for your Son and new Daughter in Law. The other tragedies were over the top and finding out that way about your job. You had a lot on your plate last year so hopefully this one will be much better and you will get through it without any more problems. I think focusing on the days ahead is a good goal. The year will speed by. I think I need to also keep that word in mind too!
ReplyDeleteCindee,
DeleteThanks so much for stopping by!! I too hope for a much better year than 2018...Happy New Year!!
Hugs,
Debbie
I love reading you blog. Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy 2019!
ReplyDeleteJean,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by and for taking the time to leave such a sweet comment!!
Hugs,
Debbie
Debbie, last year really did seem to go to hell for you (except getting that sweet daughter in law) and I'm praying 2019 will be the best ever! My word this year is JOY as 2018 was terrible for us too. June to November saw my husband diagnosed with terminal cancer (6 to 8 months to live), my mother in law died, my husband fooled the doctors and started to recover, my father in law died, and then my husband was found to have very little residual cancer and no longer has to have chemo as of 21 Dec! We need some joy in our life, so joy it is! Hope you have the very best year this year and get that surgery behind you so you can enjoy your future retirement.
ReplyDeleteWow! 2018 was quite the year. Best of luck with focus for this year.
ReplyDeleteYikes! I think I shall stay away from choosing the word Peace! But I don't choose a word so hopefully I'll be fine! I do hope though that you had peace in spite of all that happened. Glad that tornado veered off. I hope you have a better year.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you shared your year with us--good and bad. I had missed some of your news esp the tornado--how scarey! I think you will sail right through your TKR with the work you are doing to prepare for it. My plow man was driving 2 weeks after his hip replacement! I was shocked. He is now back to plowing! A friend had both knees done several days apart; I can't imagine that. I can relate to your job stres. I had done psych OT for most of my career; they closed my clinic and had me doing Phys Dys OT which I never liked. I managed to hang in there till retirement with a boss who did not think I pulled my share of the load; as soon as I got confident with something, he moved me around. Hated it. I have been retired for 5 years now and am loving it. You will, too! Happy 2019!
ReplyDeleteKathy,
DeleteThanks so much for taking the time to stop by and for your encouraging words. I chose FOCUS for my Word because I need to focus on one day at a time and hopefully, the time will pass quickly and I will have my surgery and then retire.....We are almost half way through Jan. already so I hope I will keep busy enough that the next 9 months go by quickly!! Thanks so much for supporting by Blog!! I truly appreciate it!!
Hugs,
Debbie
Thanks Debbie for sharing this at Cooking and Crafting with J&J.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a year with so many ups and downs. Focus sounds like a wonderful word and I think we all need to do more of that! Thanks for linking up to Best of the Weekend. You were one of my features! Enjoy your weekend and best wishes for 2019!
ReplyDeleteShelley
Hopefully the allotment of "unexpected occurences" was used up in 2018 -- what a year you had! Congratulations on the new daughter in law -- and her win -- so glad for the newlyweds! May this year go smoothly and your knee replacement be uneventful! "Focus" sounds like a great choice for word of the year. Best wishes for 2019!!
ReplyDeleteOh wow, what a year Debbie. The tornado made such a mess. All the best for 2019.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing your post with us at Creative Mondays. Have a lovely weekend and we hope to see you Monday :)
The day that tornado hit, I knew immediately it was close in your area----! Somehow everyone was blessed that it didn't plow through your housing. FOCUS is a great way to look at your coming year. I've had 3 surgeries/2replacements on the same knee, as a nurse you know what goes right and can go wrong. I don't think anyone can ever do too much prep work towards surgery---if you have the option to know when it will occur. So move forward and we will see you in the new year, Sandi
ReplyDeleteYou've had quite a year, Debbie. May 2019 be a calmer, less 'eventful' year for you! Thank you for sharing at Party In Your PJs!
ReplyDeleteIt was quite a year. That is amazing about the Lottery. Congratulations. The Countdown to retirement begins.
ReplyDeleteWell, my friend, you have had a rough year! You know, I remember hearing about that tornado and I was wondering how close it came to your dwelling. Glad to hear that turned out okay! I lived through a tornado myself many years ago and I can tell you, it is something you never forget! Congratulations on getting your new DIL! That was a happy event. I think Focus is a good word for you this year. You are a strong lady and you do have something big to focus on so I'm confident that you will get there! One day at a time!
ReplyDeleteLast year and the two before that were pretty stressful for me and my family but I haven't been brave enough to share. I had shared about my health issues and my two surgeries but there were other situations happening at the same time and I chose to keep it to myself for privacy reasons. Like you, I'm praying for a better year. I learned a long time ago that difficult situations, if handled well, will only serve make you stronger. Faith comes into play as well. Take care, Debbie! I'm routing for you and I will pray for you too. Hugs...Sandi