It's Been A Roller Coaster
Well, here it is, my year in review after skipping a few. I'll spare you dear reader of the ugliest details.
The health front has been a gigantic roller coaster. Myself, my partner and her issues, my family members. There has been a lot in that aspect that was concerning for the most part. A little less now, as of this writing.
My issues I haven't divulged to anyone, and while they have not been grave issues, they have kept me from doing some of the things I enjoy doing. Meetings, W3C work, projects I have wanted to start and stuff I have wanted to complete.
One death in the family, three instances of cancer diagnoses that have fortunately two have come out free of that awful stuff, one we are waiting to hear about (that one has to deal with United HealthCare, so we're bracing for the appeals process already. IFKYK). My mind has been all over the place more than when I was traveling the past three years.
Employment
I ended 2023 with a bang and had an auditing job that I completed and I was fortunate to work for a company that already had a culture of accessibility. That kept me afloat for half the year.
The job interview process has been as tiring as all the hunting and applying can be these days. I was fortunate enough to speak with someone at Apple about a role, but sadly, I did not get that role. It gave me the confidence to know I still have value at 53 years old.
I am trying hard to maintain that air of positivity going into 2025.
The Good Stuff
I was not going to end this all negative. The TL;DR of it is this, and it is really all I need:
- I stayed sober.
- I reconnected with my children.
- I've managed to deal with the negative a lot better than I have ever.
- I can walk away from things or people that are toxic without hesitation and with indifference.
- My coding skills may be rusty, but I still got it.
- I stopped selling myself short and would be open to a manager role in accessibility, but no more auditing.
- I know my value.
Thank you to those who stuck by me during my times of flakiness, thank you dear reader, thank you to my higher power for keeping me sober, and hopefully, with what we have looming for the next few years, we can all come out of this alive and with those whom we love and those whom we call friends.
✌🏻