I have been writing a post to welcome each new month since 2022 and will continue this tradition in 2024.

First, how about a warm welcome to 2024!

I don’t know about you but my December 31st, 2023 was nothing special. Just another typical Sunday. I went out for a walk early morning while mom recuperated from her travels.

Yes, my mother has returned from her travels and so far, I’m have a tough time getting used to the noise again. I had to keep my ears plugged for much of yesterday with low-volume music playing in the background. It kind of helped my brain to function without it heading into hyper-anxiety levels.

As my neighbors set off fireworks to welcome the new year, I felt like January 1st, 2024 is just another day of a new month. Nothing special there. I couldn’t feel the hope and the spirit of optimism of the new year – the same hope and optimism I’ve felt in prior years is missing. I don’t know why. It’s strange or perhaps I won’t feel it until the seedlings emerge from the seeds I planted on the 30th? Maybe, to my oddly-wired brain, those new seedlings represent hope?

I will not recapitulate the year of 2023 in this post. This is a post to welcome January 2024, after all, so it’s only fitting to give December 2023 a quick recap.

December 2023 was filled with excitement, peace, happiness, and anxiety. I attended the company Christmas party in the first week of December and the department Christmas party in the following week. Both of them were very much filled with memorable fun and I walked away from both with smile, laughter and gifts.

Then the day I’ve been waiting for since early November – mom’s departure to Japan and China and my ticket for a temporary parole from my mother’s control. The thought of being by myself felt nerve-wrecking in the days prior to mom’s departure but I quickly got past the anxiety of the uncertainty and dove right into my honeymoon with adulthood.

I bought groceries, I cooked, cleaned, and made decisions. It turned out I’m rather good at adulthood, if I may say so myself.

Ooh ooh ooh, and I almost forgot. I finally got to see the biggest Christmas light show in Utah thanks to mom’s absence.

Of course, every honeymoon must end and mine ended the day I got scammed by a couple of 🤬 jerks with middle-eastern accents pretending to be my internet providers’ technical support. They caused me a week of sleeplessness and it happened to be the week when I was to go on my road trip – the road trip I’ve been planning since early November.

I went on the road trip anyway because I refused to be kept home and in a corner by some inconsiderate A-holes from something I’ve been wanting to do ever since the idea was conceived. Despite a few hiccups along the way, the trip went swimmingly and I returned with a literal ton of photos in my library.

In the final days of the month, I spent the days re-organizing the garage to the point where I now have a seed-starting table and lots of extra space to put my garden supplies as opposed to being in a box. I also gave the house a thorough cleaning and I must say, I will now require some rest.

As to what I’m looking for in January 2024, I don’t know yet. January through March are those months with not much planned. The only thing I’m looking forward to might be seed starting.