After listening to appeals that I get back into blogging and sharing my life, I decided to buckle down and do it. The only problem is that I linked my original blog to my Facebook page, and I really like the idea of having the freedom to speak without everyone in my life hearing about it. This way, I can just share it with my friends here on MyBloggers. You are all special friends so I am hoping you will find me on here.

2011 has pretty much turned out to be quite the roller coaster ride. The new year started out with Ray having a stroke. We were fortunate in that while it was a serious stroke, it was one in which he was able to recover pretty much back to normal with the physical and occupational therapy.

As you all know, money has been tight for a while, and this didn't really help, particularly in light of the fact that Ray was still uninsured. We were fortunate in the fact that the hospital was able to get him in a social program that pretty much waived all the expenses of his stay in the hospital as well as any other services he would get through the hospital network through the end of this July. That pretty much meant that we only had to worry about the cost of his scrips.

We settled into life once again, struggling a bit economically, but squeaking by just a hair's breadth. We hit another bump in June, which was when Ray ended up getting a really nasty infection in his foot. The ball of his foot swelled up terribly with the infection (the same one that causes strep throat), and he ended up going back into the hospital for surgery. Fortunatley, he made it through without having to have an amputation of any level. They just had to remove some of the flesh that had died, and it was expected to totally grow back. They also cleaned out all the infection before sending him home to play nurse.

Right after he came home, RI actually past a civil union law. For many, it was a disappointment because it had seemed like full marriage equality was going to pass easily. This was not really that, but (in my opinion) it was much better than nothing. Ray and I rushed down to get the paperwork started for a license, and it turned out we ended up being the first two apply and to follow that up with an actual ceremony. So, we are now one in the eyes of state law, which was very exciting.

We had an awesome ceremony on a beautiful, sunny day. It was in a small park-like area behind the library in our town. The space abuts the Clear River, and is just down from an amazing historic waterfall. We had about 35 friends and family with us to join us. We even got a free wedding announcement, when the Providence Journal covered it (and us) for one of the Sunday edition's cover stories. This also means Ray will now get insurance through my family coverage.

Last week, we ran into some more trounble. Poor Jolie, our bassett hound, had to be rushed to the hospital. She ended up having an absess in a cyst on the side of her chest. Her breed gets cysts all the time, and they rarely turn out to be cancerous. This one wasn't, but the infection was still a problem. They removed the cyst and put a drain in the site. She seems to be doing wonderfully, though, it does mean that I have to change bandages and clean surgical sites on two patients twice a day.

In another rise, I found out Tuesday, that I am going to be starting a new job at another library. I took a shot and applied to be the assistant director, and I was actually awarded the position. It is an exciting step up in responsibility and pay, but I will really miss the people I work with. I have been with them for more than a third of my life.

So, I guess this blog is joining me with all the cahnges that have been happening this year. Hopefully, it will be the start of my getting into a regular blogging habit once again. Please say hi so I will know who has found me once again.

Check out a pic from our ceremony below....

Live long and prosper!