Top 9 photos of 2022: My birthday trip with my mom might have been the start of the year, but it was still a highlight and favorite memory. / I got bangs! / Going to see Legally Blonde with my mom and her pals was a highlight for sure. / Minadora graduated with her PhD! / Meeting Mason was a HUGE highlight. / Jess and Preston got married! / Mason and I went to a wedding together—our first big event as a couple! / Mason’s talk at TEDx St. Louis was a definite highlight—including meeting his parents. / Niles met Santa!
When 2022 started, I was still high on the feelings of joy and relief at graduating with my PhD. I had just had my cup filled to the brim with seeing my friends for the first time since December 2019. Life was great.
And, honestly, 2022 didn’t start out bad other than my bronchitis, which lasted 27 weeks. That’s literally half a year for those of you who, like me, suck at math. I was constantly coughing and struggling to get in enough oxygen to function, but the rest of the world seemed to be moving forward okay.
In January, mom and I celebrated my birthday with an epic trip to St. Louis where we found the place that has become our favorite pho restaurant, Pho Long on Grand. We also explored the Novel Neighbor, a bookstore I found on TikTok, and mom patiently waited as I looked at absolutely everything. I had the experience for the first time ever of going to Build a Bear and coming away with my beloved Toothless (from How to Train Your Dragon) while mom stuffed a rainbow triceratops named Zelda. (Yes, mom chose that name.) Overall, it was a great start to 33.
By March, I was able to breathe again. I was doing dog sitting jobs and watching lots of tv with mom or playing Pokemon Go. Then, on March 19, we adopted Chloe, a beautiful maltipoo puppy who immediately charmed all of us, Niles especially. Mom’s first puppy that was all her own, she slept with mom. She was already mostly potty trained, was helping Niles with his potty issues, and was the very best girl. I was in love.
Chloe had an accident three weeks after we got her and she only lived a week longer than that. It was, without question the most heartbreaking experience of my whole life. We loved her completely and were excited for 15ish years with her. We only got one month. As I’m typing this on NYE, I’m still fighting tears. This loss was devastating for Mom and me—and for Niles, who worshipped his little sister. We miss her very much.
On March 31, in the middle of the Chloe situation, while I was living at the dog house that we refer to as the pool house, my maternal grandmother, Bess, died. It was in no way a surprise, but it was still very difficult. She was the last grandparent I had and of all my grandparents, she was the one I loved the most. I have lovingly referred to Bess as “my favorite lady” for years and losing her was a deep wound, further ripped open by losing Chloe only a couple weeks later. We buried my grandmother on a Thursday and two days later on Saturday, we buried my father. Dad had died at the height of the pandemic when funerals weren’t allowed to happen.
So, overall, March and April sucked. As a result of my grandmother’s death, my mother has been maddeningly busy with estate related nonsense. But that’s mom’s story to tell.
In May, we got the good news that, after waiting and waiting and waiting, I was finally being chosen for the full time position at East Central College as English Instructor. Mom and I celebrated and decided that this would be our turning point in the year. From here on out, we were going to look for the good. This is not to say that I didn’t still cry constantly when I thought of Chloe, but we needed to move forward.
At the beginning of May, Mom and I went with her friends to see a former coworker perform in Legally Blonde. On the way, mom’s friends urged me to try online dating again, which had not worked well in the past. After being harassed by them for months about it, this was the conversation that made me finally sit down and make profiles on a few apps. And it’s a good thing I did.
Mid-May, we went back to my beloved Denton, Texas for Minadora’s graduation. Minadora, my best friend and soul sister, is now the newest Doctor Macheret! We cherished the time with Dora and her family and other close friends, including Mark Alonzo, my bestie from my days at UD.
It wasn’t long after we got back from Texas that I swiped right on a cute dude on OK Cupid. He immediately started messaging me and within a few days, we were texting. Since he lived in Columbia and Mom and I had to run an errand in Jeff City, I asked him to meet up with us. On June 1, Mason met up with mom and me at the only pho place in Jeff and mom, who absolutely did not want to be the third wheel on my first date with a stranger, did a great job. Mason is extremely likable and by the end of the evening, I knew I had found someone special. To be honest, I was pretty sure he was special before we met in person. I remember telling Niles that morning that I might be going to meet his daddy. It’s funny how we know things like that.
Mason came down to Rolla within a couple weeks. I was into the start of my 7 weeks of dog sitting at three different houses (with one drop in house sprinkled in!), so Mason crashed with me multiple times at whatever dog house I was living in at the time. I’m not actually sure how many times he came to Rolla over the summer, but it was every couple weeks. Then, once I was done dog sitting and Mason’s MBA classes at Mizzou started, I began to drive up to Columbia every couple weeks. In fact, I’m there now, sitting at Mason’s dining table and writing.
In August, I officially started my full time job at ECC. In September, my little god-sis, Jessica, got married. As if that wasn’t a big enough life event, I also met Mason’s daughter and coparent in September. It was a big month.
In October, Mason and I went to a wedding in Kansas City. Exploring the city with him was so fun, I really enjoyed that time together. The next weekend, Mason gave a TEDx talk at TEDx St. Louis. We’re still waiting for the recordings to come out! But it was a magical weekend that included meeting his parents. Lots of big things happening!
November and December have gone by super fast. Mom and I spent both Thanksgiving and Christmas just the two of us. Now I’m preparing for NYE with Mason after we drop off his kiddo, who, by the way, is a delight and I absolutely adore. I’m pretty sure the feeling’s mutual.
Life is good. It’s not perfect and there are plenty of troubles I’m leaving out, but overall, I’m blessed.