it's the most wonderful time of the year

I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year. I love the cooler weather, greyer days, and autumn/winter smells...but there have been too many years with too much death, drama, and depressing crap during these colder months, so now they are tainted for me. I was hoping to break the pattern this year.

Nope.

A couple weeks ago, on what was already a rough and weird day for me, I talked with a very close friend of mine, someone who has been with me through thick and thin for double-digit years now. They've been having hard times, fighting an annoyingly unfair number of illnesses and ailments...and they were just diagnosed with cancer. Fuck. Another good friend is having to jump on a plane tonight, racing time to try to make it to their grandfather before he dies. And just recently, Will's dog Darwin ruptured an anal gland [joyfulness]; during a follow-up visit for that, the vet noticed a lump/cyst in his ear. Took him to a specialist, and boom: he goes in tomorrow for surgery on his ear and his bum...and to keep it interesting, Will has to head out for a week-long business trip the day after, so I am on solo convalescent care for the poor violated pup.

I really fucking hate this time of year.