I took a Covid test today. I have a runny nose, likely from the change in weather and a change in my exercise level, but a runny nose is a runny nose, and that means taking a test in the Era of Covid. Based on recommendations from various experts, I followed the Chilean process of swabbing the throat first. I did not follow up with swabbing my nose, but I'll try that next time.

And "Well, that's an interesting ..."

I had seen the result, took the picture of it, and had turned away. In true Kitt Style™, I became distracted by words as I was reading the results, and hadn't realized I was speaking out loud.

"WHAT? WHAT? WHAT IS THE RESULT?" "What was it?" "What happened?"

"Oh, sorry, negative."

Oops.

I was having a conversation with R--- today, about boundaries, about loss, about grief. The conversation wandered through various levels of discomfort before I admitted I didn't want to do something because it made me feel uncomfortable.

"Well, get comfortable with being uncomfortable."

And there it was. The key. To boundaries. To honesty. To growth. To life.

Accepting the uncomfortable, sitting with it, letting it exist. Don't avoid it, don't run away with it, be with it. Become comfortable with the uncomfortable.

I appreciated the comment so much that I added it as a bingo square for this year.

I often wonder, when I look back on this site, what others are going to think about it.

Sure, I write as if I'm talking to someone in particular, but I write for me.

As the year was ending, I was thinking, no, the whole thing wasn't terrible, just much of it.

Upon further reflection, I realized I did have a number of high points in the year. In this case, "high" had multiple meanings, one being very literal.

Top of Mount Baker, July 2021

Top of Flat Iron in the Superstition Mountains, September 2021

Virginia Pass, Hoover Wilderness, October 2021