I thought I might take a pass on the “oh, what a year this has been” post, but I can’t seem to leave it alone. Part of me looks back on 2006 with rather negative feelings, but closer inspection reminds me that we pretty near broke even, although it didn’t much feel like it at times.

I don’t think John and I have ever worked quite as hard with as many obstacles thrown in our paths as we did in 2006. Quite apart from the normal dogs-kid-household log jam that happens in all families to some extent, we endured some extra stresses. John’s father was diagnosed with cancer in June after having been unidentifiably sick for a couple of months before that. I didn’t write about it at the time for a number of reasons. One was not knowing what the outcome was and waiting, hoping, pleading with any deities that might listen and wishing with every fibre of my being that things would fix themselves and it would all be all right. Another was that it is difficult to write of my own experience without transgressing into invading someone else’s privacy. A further thought was that grief and fear can be fairly personal things and sometimes are best left unshared with the outside world. Finally (and this sounds ridiculous, I know) there was the element of not wanting to jinx things by publicly voicing hope. Stupid, right? I dunno. Anyway, this year has been rather full of private worry and anguish. It is not easy to watch a man whom you love face the fear of losing a father. Watching a marriage as close as that of John’s parents face such a series of events also makes you contemplate your own marriage a great deal. At times like that, an active imagination is a curse.

All of this when I was getting ready for my first show, working towards the Craft Fairs, planning new products and being a full-time work-at-home mother. John was going out of his tree at work and dealing with the after-effects of March’s car accident, so he was in chronic pain for much of the year. This meant that there were a great many household chores that fell to me to be done because he simply couldn’t. There were many days when he walked through the front door and staggered into bed with painkillers. Then there were the evenings spent shuffling between physio, doctors, more work, the hospital to visit his dad and home. That kind of thing takes its toll.

Toss this wonderful concoction into the air and top it with a dash of financial stress (car accidents and family problems always leave a trail of financial disasters) and professional worry for both parties and you have a year fraught with compounded miseries.

It didn’t end like that, though.

The chemo worked and all things look positive for John’s dad.

My show was a success.

The craft fair was excellent. My best ever, in fact. So was the Anna Templeton sale.

John’s work is going very well.

His pain is no longer constant.

Katherine is happier and able to do more with us rather than having us constantly doing things for her.

We are sleeping again.

So 2006, while starting and proceeding with one damned thing after another, finished up its last two or three months rather nicely. In fact, I don’t think I could have asked for better, given all that transpired. Strangely enough, I think we may have broken even better than even. There’s something about ploughing through a mess that enhances your appreciation of the order you’ve achieved.

Farewell ’06. If you bump into 2007, could you ask him/her to be less eventful?