2012 was absolutely crammed with events.  It began with Luke’s arrival home from Thailand in May saying he was in love with a Thai woman.  That lead to their engagement in June, then the non-stop planning for the trip after that.

Meanwhile, my brother’s daughter Julie got married, and we attended her lovely wedding in Maple Ridge in August.

During the same month, Nicky was handed a plum job as a project manager at Telus.  I’m still having problems with the amount of work he does versus the gargantuan pay he receives.

My mom, age 87, not only learned how to Skype, but to send and receive e mails.  But you know it’s true, necessity is the mother of invention.  I had said to mom Luke’s bored out on the oil rigs, and you have time, so the two of you need to Skype.

I took two trips this year, first to see my friend Alison in Toronto in late April.  Then there was the surprise trip to Thailand in November.  Both were fabulous.

Two very sad events occurred late in 2012, both very painful.  First, our dear dog Mojo became sick, and then suddenly died.  The poor dog had to suffer at the end and I still feel upset about that part of it.

Worse still, my childhood pal, Liz Graham died on December 22 at the age of 58.  My mom said we met when we were six weeks old, as she recalls driving over to Grahams with me and her best friend Pearl Granger.

Liz and I became best friends in grade one, and remained that way until the end of grade seven.  We were close friends throughout high school and then drifted apart at times over the years.  However, when Liz moved to Pentictom to live with her mom around 2005 we reconnected in a big way.

In 2006 we travelled to Washington, DC to hang out with Alison for a week.  I have so many wonderful memories from that trip.  Soon after, Liz became sick, and she remained so ever since.

So her death wasn’t a surprise, but still it was hard.  I learned so much about living and dying from Liz, and I shall be forever grateful to her for all of those lessons.  No matter how bad she felt, she never complained and remained happy.

I realized that to Liz, every minute she was alive was a good minute.  She was a Buddhist master and didn’t even know it.

Onward!  With positive and loving thoughts, off we go into 2013.  All the best!