I haven’t known where to start. Maybe I should just do a list of what happened in December, so that you can more fully appreciate why I am SO relieved that year is over. Behind us. Done with.

In December of last year, THE YEAR THAT IS NO LONGER:

– Our stroller was stolen from our carport, which is not visible from the street, in the middle of the day, while I was home, full of shoes and clothes and bathing suits and blankets and water bottles, etc etc etc. Luckily I had taken my wallet, cell phone, and keys out. Turns out it costs a lot of money to replace all the etc. in your life.

– Strange sulfur-smelling water leaking from under the gas meter in the driveway necessitated a Christmas Day visit from PG&E. Silver lining: not a gas leak. Cause still undetermined.

– Mikhail spent six weeks in a cast after breaking his thumb in a soccer game, his second broken digit of the year (he plays goalie, thus the hand injuries in a sport where you’re supposed to just use your feet).

– The stroller thieves returned the evening after Christmas, and I happened upon them in the driveway. This time, they only stole beer, not our new stroller, which was in the carport but locked up. They might have stolen more if I hadn’t happened to come out the kitchen door, walk through the carport and out to the driveway where they had run to. They took off fast. It wasn’t scary in the moment, but it was creepy afterwards. Two men and I was home alone. The police responded right away, but they couldn’t find the guys. I am pretty sure, however, that I saw one of them on the street a few days ago, probably continuing to scope out property left unattended.

-Our dishwasher nearly flooded our house the night before we left for San Diego. Thankfully I noticed and Mikhail was able to bail two galloons of water out of the bottom of it before we left.

-The due date of the baby we would have had was December 20. I lit a candle that burned all day long.

-And the biggest one: Mikhail lost his job the week before Christmas. It was a total shock – we had exactly one day of warning – and it took a good week just to stop looking at each other and saying, “Is this really happening?” And it happened on the six-month anniversary of my miscarriage, to the day.

So now you understand my last post, about how ready I was to get rid of 2009. Mikhail and I did decide that we should write a list of everything we accomplished and all the good things that happened in the year, just to remind ourselves that they were there too. One thing I definitely learned this past year was that so long as I am still here and surrounded by people I love, I am fortunate, no matter how many difficult and troubling things come my way. It’s amazing how misfortune can actually highlight all the wonderful aspects of your life, while at the same time it tries you at all levels.

We rang the new year in with my parents, sister, brother-in-law and new nephew Judah, in San Diego, eating three kinds of delicious meatballs over a heated game of Settlers of Catan. The game didn’t finish (people were too tired come midnight), but when we ended, Mikhail and I were in the lead. We chose to think of that as a welcome sign that our luck will change in the new year.

WELCOME 2010. We are so glad you’ve come.