Not-So-Happy New Year

I thought the end of last year was bad and eagerly looked forward to 2011. I just knew that life would settle down and I'd be able to get back to normal. Now the new year is here and things have gone from bad to worse.

So far, since January first:

1. A close family friend is hospitalized and not expected to live out the week.
2. I'm really sick with a fever/flu/cold and can't visit him in the intensive care unit to say goodbye.
3. The love of my life just found a lump on one of his testicles.
4. My elderly father's dementia has suddenly worsened. He got lost driving to a friend's house and can't remember the combination to his postal box. Last weekend he left the hose on and drained the water tank--twice.
5. My elderly mother, who is in so much chronic pain they want to give her a morphine drip, may now be losing her eyesight.
6. My cat, who has been beside me through thick and thin for twenty years, is fading away.
7. With all the stress I've been under the last six months, I've succumbed to eating whatever I can get my hands on and my blood sugar is spiraling out of control.
8. The brakes on the truck are squealing.
9. My supervisor told me he plans to quit next month when he gets his degree. He's the only buffer between me and the Big Bad who took over our department.
10. I haven't been able to write one word of fiction.

I've lived long enough to know that all this will pass and I'll survive the outcome (or not). Either way, Life is change. Sometimes the change is good, sometimes it sucks.

I'm so ready for a good change. When is that going to happen?