As an aside, Over at my buddy CJs blog she recommended a Good Things Jar, and I love this idea. Each day you write down something good that happened, no matter how small, and at the end of the year you empty the jar and look through it. I'm going to give that a shot.
Getting back to the year of '13; we brought it in at Lucky's Cafe with Joe, Adam, Abbie and Zoe, the food was great, the company was better and I spent the next few days sicker than I'd ever been to that point. I'm not going to get into specifics but let me say it was a new experience including a bout with throwing up bile that should have been my first sign something big was coming.
In late January we attended Burns Night at our friends Gillian and Steve Bonazoli's lovely home and met some amazing people and experienced the wonders of Haggis and other Scottish traditions and had a great time.
In March Veronica headed off to Japan for a month of business and family, we thought it would not be that hard to be apart what with modern technology but it was, and we vowed never to do that again. I had to stay behind to finish the final edits on DRACULA'S ARMY and we stayed in communication as best we could. She had a hellish flight over wracked with delays and mishaps and when she was heading back it was the weekend after the Bombings in Boston so airline security was at an all time high.
We mentored at ART ALL STATE again, working with some great kids and fellow artists. I was teamed up for the third or fourth time with my good pal Tom Grady which is like hanging out for a weekend with your best chill bud. We were sad that Gillian wasn't running it this year with the museum shakeups but Christopher Whitehead did a fantastic job.
In June we once again we're hosted by the Marblehead School System to talk graphic novels with some talented middle schoolers and spent another nice time at the Pink House bed and breakfast in town.
We did a dozen or so library workshops including one double header on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard which started with a night time stay at the hospital. I had some serious back pain which wouldn't go away and a night in the emergency room led to a hospital admission where they told me it was a gallstone. I opted to try and treat it with diet which would end up being a losing battle, but I was reluctant to have surgery.
After the workshops we then jumped into the Summer Full Teaching Session at WAM which is my absolute favorite time of the year and then headed out to Iowa during our late August break to visit with Veronica's grandparents Alden and Betty.
In the Fall we got back to work with our teaching schedules and I prepared final final changes for Dracula. Halloween had us building a giant skull with my Thursday teen class and we walked it around the museum grounds on a rainy Halloween night.
In the Fall we got back to work with our teaching schedules and I prepared final final changes for Dracula. Halloween had us building a giant skull with my Thursday teen class and we walked it around the museum grounds on a rainy Halloween night.
Back pain returned, this time worse than ever, and after nearly two days of self treatment Veronica drove me to the hospital where I collapsed in the waiting room. The pros at UMASS Med School had me in surgery within twelve hours and it was the best experience I've ever had.
The surgery was minimally invasive so recovery was fairly quick. I had a few rough days but nothing compared to the pain I'd been in. They treated me well and I was actually sorry to leave.
We got through Thanksgiving, and it was a special one because I'd almost not made it thru surgey, at one point going into shock. So we were grateful to have more time together.
December we left for Japan and we spent the remainder of the holiday season here. So glad we could be together, and we keep touch with they guys through Skype and an international text service.
A year full of events, but I'm happy to still be here.
My best wishes to all of you.
