2025 Wrap Up – Or Something Like That

Hoo boy. So 2025 was… a lot. A full damn rollercoaster in so many ways it’s kinda not even funny anymore.

I’m not gonna try to list a lot of things because, well, I’ve been putting off this update for a week, it’s NYE, and I’m mid-chipotle as we decide what movie to end the year with.

Overall, there’s been a lot of good. Seeing good friends at conventions, making new ones, performing both on stage and in the air again. Not to mention: getting this whole author thing off the ground. Thanks to some personal and friendly butt-kicking, I submitted to an anthology and got in. I marketed myself and the anthology. Got named MVP (most valuable promoter) of our anthology. Got rejected for a submission too (look, it’s a good skill to have, right?). Wrote a lot.

I think, besides the Published Author Thing, one of the other big highlights of my year is Being a Good Friend. Sounds weird, right? Lemme explain…

One of the hallmarks my spouse and I have for feeling like we’re Doing Good in Life*, is being able to help our friends. Throwing some cash a friend’s way to help cover a bill in rough times, buying someone dinner, watching their kids for a while, getting them to safety, etc. Knowing that we’re safe and in a place where we can help has always meant a lot to us. And we did a lot of that this year in different ways. Some of it small (buying dog food for a stressed out friend), some of it large (letting a friend move into our spare room until they find a more permanent place), but all of it meant something to them and us. Feel good shit, as it were.

*wow that’s a lot of capitalization. Whatever brain, you do you.

So now, unfortunately, for a low of my year. TW: Pet death, so skip to the cat photos if needed.

The absolute shittiest part of my year was losing not just my big dumb orange boy Calcifer in March, but then losing our sweet old lady Minx not two weeks ago. Cal had seemed off for a while, and was having trouble eating (this boy devoured everything in his damn path and then some, so this was our biggest warning sign). Turned out to be cancer, a lot of it. Minx was struggling with adjusting to our new kitten, but I also saw her losing weight and acting slightly out of character. Then the lethargy hit. Kidney disease (on top of so many other issues they found out about too late), that rapidly descended into kidney failure. To say our hearts were broken is a gross understatement. It was a miserable start to the holidays for our house, made only tolerable by the incredible kindness and love from friends and family.

Losing her when we did has made it hard for me to want to do…much of anything. This blog post was supposed to go up 2-3 weeks ago. Haven’t written anything. Hadn’t even picked up a book to read in over a week. It highlighted that there were many points in this past year that I struggled with feeling like a failure and a fake. Oh, right, I know what that is.

(don’t worry, working on and through it)

Admittedly, sadness aside, it has been an overall good year. I am proud of my accomplishments and look forward to many more in 2026. I’ve got more costumes and crafts to make. More friends to spend time with. More stories long and short to write and submit. And more chaos to cause and wrangle. There is a lot to look forward to in 2026 and I hope to see you all there with me.