Happy New Year! I say enthusiastically from mid-February, 2024.

2024 has already been good to us. Pluto finally moved out of Capricorn and like many of the cardinal signs my spouse (cancer) and I (libra) were not sad to see it go. Since 2008 our lives have been filled with growth and upheaval. Some good, but all of it A LOT. We found our dumpster dogs (scorpios lol) in 2008 and while absolute blessings I can say I learned more about us through their 12 and 14 years with us than most anything else.

There were a lot of struggles over those years. We also bought our first home in 2008. The Great Recession and the Housing Bubble Burst cost us that house. We moved to another state; I fought for my graduate degrees only to find an unkind job market waiting. Finances were always, always tight and not just because one of our dogs had her own credit card due to how many health issues she had. (She lived the longest of the two, go figure). 

We don’t follow astrology all that closely, but in late December when social media started chattering about Pluto’s big shift, we claimed it gladly.

Truth is, life has been settling down for us since we moved Summer 2022. Losing our Bridgette dog was hard, but we finally paid off her credit card. :S I finally caught up on my sleep. We paid off our vehicles. Our finances started rebounding a bit. Our quality of life slowly and steadily improved. The move was good for us socially too, and I’ve had access to parks and museums and coffee shops. I’ve been writing and rewriting and editing. I started reading slush for Reckoning last year and talking to other humans who read and write and I realized I might not be a fraud. (Imposter syndrome is wild, y’all). I’m finally ready to step out of my comfort nest and do things that scare me.

So far it’s been a good year. The big notes are:

I am going to be the fiction and creative nonfiction editor for Reckoning’s Issue 9 (2025).

The student loans I’ve been paying on for over twenty years were forgiven (thank you, Biden; we might actually be able to buy another house someday).  Don’t get me started on the state of NC treating that forgiveness like income. We have a year to save up to pay the taxes on that forgiveness, but I am mad about it. Incredibly relieved to be debt free for the first time since 1996, but a little mad at NC too.

I got some major emotional closure regarding my relationship (or lack there of) with my mother.

We continue to really love where we live. We have good friends nearby and regular game nights. We’ve renewed our love of Magic the Gathering. I’m outside a lot. Our tree-house feeling apartment becomes more and more our space by the month. This year I’ve painted both bathrooms and ordered a foldable bistro set for the landing outside our door. I’ve also fully embraced my kendom and made my horse kitchen MORE horsey. I love walking in there and seeing photos of the horses I’ve been lucky enough to love and be loved by. I am eyeing a metal Mojo Dojo Casa House sign for above the kitchen windows.

I am consistently optimistic for the first time in a long time and grateful for that. So much of the world continues to be a horrible place and I struggle with guilt, but I am also more able now to do the work, to help where I can without drowning in helplessness and grief. Sometimes that’s all we can do.

PS. If you’re a US citizen, please vote. Happy (belated) New Year.