Unscrewed and Tipping the Deuce: A Look Back at 2011

(Please forgive the lack of pictures.  I had intended to include them, but it's late and I wanted to get this done on the first day of the new year.  Perhaps I'll have time to add them soon.)

Have you ever felt yourself coming down with an illness and you say to yourself, “Man!  I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck!”  Not only am I in that situation right now (I have completely lost my voice), but I can say that both literally and metaphorically for the year 2011. 

There were small glitches from the very beginning.  February is the big competition for my high school art students.  For each of my past four years, I’ve had at least one of my students advance to the state level of competition.  This year no one got out of regionals.  It was a small blow to my pride, but I took note of it nonetheless.  The greater calamity in February was an ice storm, followed by a five-day deep freeze.  While sledding, the boys had a close call, falling into the creek and being exposed to the freezing temperatures.  That was by far the worst moment of the year: feeling like I might have lost one or both of my sons. 

In the spring, I undertook a fast for Lent.  It was a great time of spiritual reawakening, and I am thankful to God for leading me into that process.  Looking back, it seems instrumental in preparing me for what was to come next.  At the conclusion of the fast, I weighed 155 lbs.   After I started eating again, I began biking to school once more.  On my way to work one morning, I was hit by a car as I rode my bicycle.  The process of recovery has been a long and slow one, culminated by the removal of the screws in my left ankle just last week.  [Although they could have remained in my leg indefinitely, I chose to have them removed, because as I was returning to normal functioning with my leg, I noticed that I could feel the tendon in my ankle catching on one of the screws, which was too long for my skinny bone and was projecting out of it.]  So after being laid up for several weeks, I was skinny, weak and broken.  Which is a perfect time to receive life altering news. 

And so, while I was still hobbling around on my broken leg, my wife left me, telling me she just couldn’t be married anymore.  This put something of a damper on my first visit to Montana (something I’ve been looking forward to for years) in particular, and the summer in general.  The saga of this portion of the year is still ongoing.  Will she stay, will she go?  2011 left with a sort of cliff-hanger ending, with me trying to sort out what I really want and wondering what will happen. 

The year has not been all doom and gloom, however.  We had a new head coach start with the girls basketball program, and not only is he a great leader for our teams, he has become a great friend.  Also, since I needed a project to keep me busy after Heather left, I threw myself into working out, and after three intense months, I reached my goal of adding muscle mass until I weighed 200 lbs.  I’ve watched my kids grow.  I’ve enjoyed friends.  I’ve travelled.  I’ve learned a lot.  2011 was an interesting and jam-packed year.  I can only imagine what twists and turns will come in 2012.