Some Years Change Your Life. Some Others Shake It Like A Snow Globe

The Feral Truth: Some years leave scars. Some years reveal strengths you didn't know you had. Sometimes they do both at the same time.

I used to think life changed gradually.

A little here.

A little there.

Small adjustments.

Tiny course corrections.

A slow evolution.

Then I experienced one of those years.

You know the kind.

The years that don't politely suggest change.

The years that grab your life by the shoulders and aggressively redecorate.

A few years ago, if you'd shown me my future, I wouldn't have believed it.

Not because it was impossible.

Because it was too much.

Cancer.

More cancer.

More caregiving.

Loss.

Grief.

Hospitals.

Appointments.

Treatment plans.

Advocacy.

Building a business.

Building a resource directory.

Learning things I never intended to learn.

Carrying things I never intended to carry.

Some years arrive like a gentle breeze.

Others arrive holding a baseball bat.

And yet, somehow, here we are.

Still standing.

Not because we were fearless.

Not because we were strong every day.

Definitely not because we handled everything gracefully.

I've had entire weeks powered exclusively by caffeine and stubbornness.

What surprises me most isn't what changed.

It's what survived.

My sense of humor.

My love for the people around me.

My ability to find absurdity in impossible situations.

My refusal to quit.

Even when quitting sounded incredibly attractive.

There are pieces of the old me that no longer exist.

But there are pieces that became stronger.

Sharper.

More honest.

More intentional.

And maybe that's the thing nobody tells you about hard years.

They don't just take.

Sometimes they reveal.

Yours in chaos,

~Kari, The Feral Caregiver