Okay, so this is getting weird. A couple weeks ago I blogged about how 2023 ended on a bad note but hoped 2024 would have a better start. Well, so much for hope. Now don’t get me wrong; 2024 isn’t a lost cause because we’re only 35 days into it but I have to say I’m not lovin’ the trend here. Why not, you ask? Partly because I’m a…

For instance, last week I lost a set of keys for my work vehicle. The keys included my one and only house key plus an unidentified key which I have no clue of its purpose. Still, I kept it on my key chain holder in case I happen to remember. (Yeah right, like THAT’S gonna happen.) The thing is, the battery died in that key fob so I locked the car by inserting the key into the door, thereby preventing me from locking it inside.

I was at Marin Humane, rushing to drive 20 cats 2 hours north for a spay/neuter clinic. Running just 50 feet from the SUV to the feral cat room, this nincompoop somehow managed to lose the keys. I’m telling you, they disappeared like a puff of smoke in the wind. My saving grace? Transporting the cats in Marin Humane’s huge van.

My guess is the keys will turn up eventually, even though I searched every square inch of those 50 feet. But in the meantime, I need to buy another key fob and have more house keys made. But good riddance to the unidentified key which no doubt one day I’ll regret losing. Oh dear keys…

Next up…we’ve had a couple big storms recently. We’re talkin’ sheets of rain. Even so, friends came for lunch and entered my living room to a bucket catching water dripping from the ceiling. How can that be when I have a second floor?! My guess: loose flashing under the dormer. But then again, I’m no roofer.

From there I walk into the garage only to have a raindrop fall on my head. Oops, another roof leak. Liberty Mutual is gonna love me (not!) since I’ll be contacting them twice within 8 months (previous flooring damage). Anyone want to place bets they cancel my insurance?

Oh yeah, and then there’s the leaking skylight. At least the other one isn’t leaking so there’s a bit of good news. But back to bad again…my sweet friend Kim died unexpectedly at age 57 and a good friend’s husband had a stroke. Another friend was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. This definitely puts all that other crap into perspective. But it adds to the questionable start of 2024, don’t you think?

And to top off January, while I’m at my optometrist appointment, my doctor mentions I have the start of cataracts, which isn’t a big deal but she also found something alarming so had me see the ophthalmologist.

Cutting to the chase, doc told me I have small eyes (no news there). In layman’s terms, the space around the inside edges is narrower than most and becoming more so. It keeps fluid from draining, thereby building up pressure which results in glaucoma. In other words I need eye surgery.

Many people don’t know they have glaucoma and when it suddenly presents with a debilitating migraine, nausea, vomiting, and excruciating eye pain, it may be too late to treat and could lead to blindness. Tell me more good news, doc.

I vaguely remember him explaining the very slight chance of the procedure resulting in blurry vision or sometimes double vision, but to be honest, I zoned out after hearing blindness. So next week I’m having a hole drilled in my left eyeball so the fluid drains, thereby not totally altering life as I know it (to be a bit dramatic). Two-weeks later, doc will drill the other eye since apparently that one is also planning to close up shop soon.

So yeah, 2024 is off to a questionable start but it can only get better, right? Or will it? Either way, you’ll be the first to know.