Waving goodbye to 2023

Where Fleur makes a collage of 2023 photos

In true Fleur fashion, I managed to catch Covid right before the holiday break. I’m fully vaxxed and all, though that made no difference.

Aside from being a reminder that I should’ve been masked and more careful on recent expeditions, it was a chance to rest and recharge. And what else are the holidays for?

Boredom set in just a little, so I ended up scrolling through my pictures of the year.

What had I really done anyway? 2023 is a bit of a blur…

Much to my relief, I found I did more than I thought, so I can go easy on myself. Sold a house, moved, bought another one, fixed it up. Worked, wrote, edited. Met some writer friends. Posed with a fake duckface (see below). Won an award or two. Stuck my feet in the beach sand. Hiked a mountain. Fed a squirrel.

Not bad for a busy year. I hope yours was a good one too, but don’t be too hard on yourself. These (not quite post) Covid times are ones to lick your wounds, hug a friend (perhaps while masked) and be hopeful. Stuff ain’t easy.

This collage shows my highlights, but it doesn’t show the hard times.

Like when I moved, and the frost killed all the houseplants I had packed in my car. Long work hours. Writing rejections. Sore muscles after putting a third coat of paint on the walls. My daughter’s health struggles, and my own. My 17-year-old cat getting dementia and slowly dying (not Floof). We don’t need a collage for all these not-so-fun things obviously, but I remember those moments too.

I hope you have victories to mention along with hard times, and that you celebrate them with cake. You deserve it.

For me, 2024 will likely bring more writing (that book I’ve been plotting here, for one). The holiday Covid bedrest also meant I had ample time to make plans for the new year; more on this in a future post.

How about you?

What good stuff happened in 2023…?