January, I spent my first New Year’s Day alone.

February, I spent my first Valentine’s Day alone, but I was moved to tears when the first grade class where I volunteered gave me flower’s for Valentine’s day and then very proud of my loving, caring son when I returned home from school and found that he had also given flowers. Also in February, I put our boat, “On The Hook”, on the market for sale.

In March, I sang in the Easter cantata at church and enjoyed the children’s Easter Egg hunt at the Bradenton Yacht Club with Vanessa, JP, Kellie and Emma.

In April, I accepted an offer on the boat and Vanessa started her quest for a GED aided by the staff at the North River Care Pregnancy Center where we volunteer.

In May, I attended the Founders Day luncheon and annual memorial service for members who have passed away the previous year. Rick was one of the members remembered in the ceremony and Past Commodore Deborah Ross and I tossed a carnation in the water in remembrance of him. The sale of the boat was finalized and I submitted my resignation to the Bradenton Yacht Club effective June 30, 2018, after 18 years of membership.

In June, I celebrated my birthday with Ruth Baker and friends and family at the Riverside Café in Palmetto. I celebrated with my granddaughter, Vanessa, when she participated in a cap and gown graduation ceremony on the occasion of receiving her high-school GED (she also got her driver’s license the same week.) We moved into the new house in the Twin Rivers subdivision in Parrish, Florida on June 18^th and I wished my father a happy 88^th birthday on June 30^th.

In July, Dad and I spent the day of the 4^th with my brother Bill and wife Mary and her relatives at their family home on the St. John’s river in Palatka. After taking Dad back to his rehabilitation center, I drove to Ormond Beach to watch fireworks with Rick’s brother, Edward, from his dock on the Halifax River (intracoastal waterway). In the middle of the month, Dad had his feeding tube removed. At the end of the month, I traveled with son, JP, and brother-in-law, Edward, to Compass Cay in Exuma, Bahamas. Neither of them had been to this island where Rick and I spent several years. While there, we scattered some of Rick’s ashes over the cliff at Hester’s Ruins into the ocean that Rick loved so much. I think this will be become an annual trip for me.
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August found me spending weekends in Tampa helping our friends Ken and Jackie Sosville as he recovered from a stem cell transplant which we all hope will help him in his fight against cancer.

In September, I continued going to Tampa after church on Sunday and staying a couple of nights with Ken driving him to appointments and dispensing his medicine to him as well as cooking for him and walking with him. Mid-month, we started practicing for the upcoming Christmas cantata on Tuesday nights (Vanessa is joining me.) At the end of the month, we said goodbye to Reverend Larry Pritchett who has been the minister at Palm View First Baptist Church for more than 40 years.

In October, I received a volunteer award at the annual North River Care banquet before traveling (by myself for the first time in many years) out to Colorado to spend a long weekend with my brother, Bill and his wife Mary, on what would have been my 46^th wedding anniversary. On October 25^th, I drove to Ocala to check my father out of the rehabilitation facility in which he has lived since 2015. He has now moved in with me!

In November, we celebrated:  Vanessa’s 20^th birthday on the 2^nd and JP’s 39^th birthday on the 14^th and Thanksgiving on the 22^nd, which would have been Rick’s 69^th birthday. Also, I enjoyed a monthly lunch with a group of retired Manatee County Government Information Services Department. Dad had both physical and occupational therapy to help in his transition from the “rehab” to living at home. Over the years, Dad has taken friends and family on hundreds of “woods rides” in the Ocala Forest, JP and Emma took Dad and I on a “woods ride” along a trail down by the Manatee River this month. We went to Edward’s in Ormond Beach for Thanksgiving. I cooked the traditional dinner and Dad got a chance to talk and visit with a couple of old friends.

In December, I sang with the church choir for a couple of Christmas performances. We had a holiday open house which was a success. (Thanks to Ken and Jackie and Bill and Ruth) for coming “all the way out here” to see the house. We sold the house in Palmetto Point which Rick and I had built in the early 80’s. After we moved onto the boat, JP and Kellie and their family lived there until we moved this summer. After selling the house, we traded in our cars for a new car for JP (Toyota Avalon) and me (Kia Soul) and JP and Kellie bought a new used-car (Volvo) for Vanessa so that she will have safe transportation to her job at the Shake Station in Ellenton. I ended the year in our hot tub toasting friends and family that have supported me in my transition this year from happily married to widow and wishing each and every one of them the best of New Year’s. Bill and Ruth, the housewarming Moet champagne was delicious!