A long year

It's been a long year.

• January:  After fighting with MediaCom cable for two months, my cable TV service was restored.  Never is a long time, so I'll just say I'm extremely reluctant to give them my business again.  So far, Qwest/Centurylink hasn't pissed me off.
• February:  Short month.  Nothing memorable besides Valentine's with the girlfriend.
• March:  This is when my job situation started to change.  One co-worker was fired, and my boss announced his move to a different department.  In early March, I was contacted through Facebook by neighbors of my aunt, whom had been discovered by police in her home after having passed away some ten days prior.
• April:  All alone at work, as my colleague returned to India as his year's tenure in the States expired.  I was excited to see the 1940 U.S. Census.  And I took my girlfriend on her second and my first cruise.  To the Bahamas.
• May:  RIP Morgan.
• June:  RIP Bailey.  Dori has a health scare.  801 Grand.  Okoboji.  John Deere turns 175.  One year since I met my girlfriend.
• July:  God-awful heat.  Cooler in Florida!  Telltale signs of the drought:  Waist-deep water at the buoys at Storm Lake.
• August:  Dori develops tooth problems.  And I suffer from a month-long affliction of high body temperature and general lousy feeling.  But I don't let it deter me from educating myself on diamonds and doing a little shopping.
• September:  My first helicopter ride.  And I ask her:  "Will you marry me?"
• October:  My folks visit.  The two set of parents meet.
• November:  Thanksgiving in Kansas City.
• December:  Blizzards, icy roads, dead batteries, and a Boxing Day cold.  My last Christmas as a single man.