Oh my goodness my blogger self sucks. I began writing a post entitled “Acts of Kindness” Thanksgiving weekend, and I never finished or posted.

Long story short my ship of shit arrived in phases. On Halloween I received 5 of my 8 crates of furniture — sadly it was mostly bits of bigger pieces, so I had a TV but no plug to go with it, dining room chairs but no table, half a day day bed, etc., etc. Soooo my place was a disaster for quit a while. Then while I was on a work trip to Korea the rest came in, which was exciting, but also overwhelming to try to unpack and do the new job, etc. etc. My car finally arrived right before Thanksgiving, and that came with its own level of stress, which came close to breaking me, but thanks to the support, help and compassion I received from new friends and complete strangers I survived with my sanity intact.

Joe was in Arizona for three months, so I was super busy trying to get apartment in order while learning my new job and taking care of pay issues (which are finally resolved). On the one hand, this was my most stressful/frustrating move, on the other I’ve been so incredibly lucky with the new people in my life. My coworkers and my neighbors are all just great people to be around, and once again I am blessed to add new members to my ever-growing family of friends. Joe came home December 2, so my life here is almost complete — if only my kids and grand babies (yes there’s another one brewing!) could also be here life would be perfect.

And while the holidays are always bittersweet because we’re so far away from blood family, we managed to have a lovely holiday season.

So, I begin 2023 at peace with where life has led me. While I’m certainly not rich with the dollars, I’m prosperous with love, laughs and mini miracles just about every day. I think my biggest takeaway from 2022 is that we forget how kind and giving we as a species can truly be. We all give and receive gifts from others all year long, so keep encouraging, keep offering support, keep smiling at strangers and keep doing whatever it is your loved ones (and strangers) need you to do at their times of need (even if that means telling them to get a grip). It holds more weight than our wars, our politics, our crises.

Happy New Year Everyone! I’ll end this post with some more pics of the miracles I witness on Guam — may some of you be able to come visit us here this year!