2024 was without question the worst year of my life. It started with month three of dental pain and anxiety, which after two root canals on the tooth, it could not be saved, and had to be pulled and an implant set into my jawbone by a young, hot shot oral surgeon who had zero bedside manners, too consumed with how cool he was, or so he thought. I loathe him and hope that he stubs his toe on the foot of his bed every single day of his life and that every time he eats anything, it has a hair in it. Pain continued until I discovered that the tooth next to the now gaping hole where a molar once was, needed another root canal, through the crown, because one of the canals was missed, back in November 2023. This was not discovered until May 1st of 2024. The only good thing that came from the months and months of non-stop pain was meeting Dr. Kurtz and her office full of the most delightful women I've ever had the pleasure to meet. She was compassionate and even texted me on a Friday night to see how I was doing. She told me that I would still feel pain in the area because of all the trauma to it and that my pain levels needed to deregulate, but that over time I would go back to being 100% fine. And y'know what? She was right. But it took until mid-Summer for this to set in. Then there was moving back into my place full time once my former upstairs neighbour left and I got a new one. Spiders had taken over during the two years I wasn't there full time (due to the noise from the c-word neighbour) and there's still so much that needs to be done here. Ending the year with the presidential election results was the rotting cherry on top of a shit show of a year. All that is left to do is hope that 2025-2029 won't include a world war, second civil war, or full-on dictatorship here on US soil. All that said, here is one thing from each month that was good and helped me to keep going even though all I wanted to do was give up:
January
Stacey's genuine excitement at the Endo check. (Granted I spent close to ten grand total for x-rays, extraction, implant, phony tooth, and additional root canal on #4 tooth, but having the Endodontist's office owner cut me a check for $554 {since the root canal they performed in December did not save the #3 tooth and it had to be yanked} felt like someone was compelled to do the right thing and help this poor gal out a little.)
February
Discovering Doylestown with Kayla (And showing her a family favourite - Return to Me - on the big screen at the County Theater!
March
Getting so many people into watching Mr. Inbetween!
Kayla - 19 Feb
Bishop - 29 Feb
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Sean - 14 March
22 March
25 March
April
After dropping Kayla off on the 20th, her wonderful beau Kenny sent me off with an "I love you". Oh, that fella is just the best ever!
May
Meeting Dr. Kurtz and co.!
June
Beginning to move back home, permanently.
July
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August
Spending the day with Lucy in Haddonfield
September
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October
Halloween Book Club with Wayne: ‘Salem’s Lot plus our watching a scary movie a day and comparing notes on November 1st.
November
Going to Ikea with Kay three Sundays in a row.
December
