The year started and ended with the worst news possible for my wife. At the beginning of the year she learned her father would be leaving us (He passed away in April) and at the end of the year her aunt joined him. To say she was heartbroken would be like calling Superstorm Sandy "inclement weather."
It has not been all bad news for my family however. My wife received the praise and respect of her siblings she never got before by stepping up and helping her mother through their mutual grief. She developed a deeper personal relationship with her brother that has helped get her through these tough times. I've also gotten to know her brother a lot better and I feel our family has indeed grown stronger in these trying times.
My own trials have not been as severe but have taxed me nonetheless. My car was neither smog checked nor fully repaired despite a full $3,000 in maintenance and repairs all this year. At one point I almost lost it when the city was called in for many cars in my apartment complex that were declared "abandoned." Thankfully she remains parked near my home and in my name despite all that. With any luck the start of the new year will see me finally, finally at the wheel of my lovely Jean Grey:
My tribulations came when the grief of loosing my father resurfaced after my wife lost her father. It turns out when you pretend you don't care about your father dying you don't heal and when you don't heal things really nasty later on. In a way when my father in law died I went through the pain and grief of loosing my father as if it had happened all over again.
Again, however, all was not sadness in mudville. After randomly posting two pages of my webcomic in an artist's facebook group I was given a offer to have those pages published in a book called BAAU Down 12. This is a book that the BAAU group publishes every year at Fanime of local artists. Basically gives us our time to shine in a book that is viewed by hundreds of people. I got an invite to join again (The invites are actually open to all artists in the San Francisco bay area who are a member of the group BAAU) for next year's book. Its been tough to come up with an idea that is appropriate for the book's PG-13 format but I finally did and now I have to get it on paper. Well, digital paper.
So for us 2013 has been a very topsy turvey ride. Despite all that though I'm looking forward to 2014.
Hope your new year brings you more triumph than tragedy.
