See ya, 2014, wouldn't wanna be ya

I think by now you all know that my answer to the above questions is an emphatic yes.

This was the year that I found out I had cancer. Four surgeries and nine months later, I'm cancer-free and on my way to being healthy. I'm extremely fortunate and grateful, but still... cancer is cancer and it sucks immensely.

This was the year that too many people close to me lost loved ones much too soon. I believe that even though the end of a life is sad, it's part of life. We will all experience the death of a friend or family member. But I'm not sure I can count the number of tragedies that hit my circle of friends and neighbors in 2014. And of course, there was the one that hit me the hardest and turned my life upside down in more ways than one.

But there were some good moments, too.

• Aaron and I escaped the nasty winter and went to Jamaica for the first (but not last) time!
• Bella took over the blog and became even more popular (look for the other two to get their turns in 2015).
• We participated in the Crawl for Cancer as usual, but this time it meant more.
• I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and love from friends near and far during my recovery and grief.
• I got to meet some bloggers in real life at a brunch in February, and then StephG visited me in late June!
• Aaron biked 328 miles from Cleveland to Cincinnati in the Pan Ohio Hope Ride.
• I went to Myrtle Beach with my brother.
• I took two work trips to places I'd never been before: Denver in April and Portland in November.
• Our nephew Jeremy graduated from high school. We couldn't go as it was three days after my "big" surgery but my mom was there.

So no, 2014 wasn't all bad, but I'm still done with it.

Happy New Year!