How was 2018?

It's been a great year for ME, if I lived in a vacuum. Every year of retirement has been better than every year before I retired. Spending my retirement with Frank has made each moment especially sweet. This year I lost over 50 pounds and hope to lose more in 2019. And financially I am doing pretty well under the circumstances; my portfolio today is only down 3.5% from its value one year ago, and also I got my age 70 SS this year which has made a huge difference in my financial situation.

Unfortunately, my ex-husband and a half dozen others, dear relatives and old friends, grad school friends and colleagues from work, happened to die unexpectedly in 2018. I found out about my ex the day after my 70'th birthday last June, and after that it seemed like one death after the other all year. They died for a myriad of different reasons, some completely shocking and bizarre. That really shook me up. Most were only in their 60's which is so sad and I don't think any reached 80. Once again the old saying that the good die young comes to mind.

But then I go from mourning each, back to thinking about and enjoying my idyllic daily life, and then get yanked out of my blissful thoughts by learning that there's yet another one to mourn. Gee!!! What an emotional roller coaster this year has been for me. But thank goodness it's over, and Frank and I are fine.

I am utterly THRILLED to be in 2019. I know it's superstitious, but I am thinking that in 2019 I may see some respite from all the deaths in 2018. Surely it's got to stop. Other than the deaths of so many of those dear to me, this has been a wonderful year.
 
This year, 2018, was a mixed year for me.


While my diabetes remains under control, there are some dark clouds out there in the health area. The main one involves my main (costly) drug which the insurance company will not cover unconditionally in 2019. Step Therapy is some set of procedures, or hoops, my doctor and I will have to get through in order to keep taking the drug and have it covered. And my premiums rose 17% for 2019, so I am getting less and paying a lot more.


My snake-bit friend lost his drivers license back in May following a car accident caused by a seizure. No other cars were involved, and he wasn't hurt. But he is still without his DL so I have been driving to his place nearly every week instead of our alternating trips to each other's places. He may actually get his DL back this month and buy a new car. We can only hope.


My dad's health has been good as he has recovered from hip replacement surgery in August of 2017.


My ladyfriend still has nagging health issues, none bad enough to keep her from working. But her overall quality of lie continues to suffer.


But my biggest loss in 2018 was the death of my square dance caller, the world-famous (in square dance circles) Lee Kopman. While he has had some health issues in the last ~5 years, he became gravely ill in July and died in November at age 85. His death has basically ended my square dance hobby, one I have enjoyed for the last 17 years after I stopped working full-time in 2001 and switched to part-time, freeing up the time and energy to reactivate this hobby which had been dormant since the 1980s.


I did, however, resurrect another hobby I hadn't done since 2004: playing the piano. As I described in a piano thread I found in this forum, I began playing some of the Scott Joplin piano rags I had played a lot in the 1980s. I had to dust off the piano and tune it up and clear out enough room to play. While I have regained most of the form I had years ago, I have found it tougher to concentrate on playing than I did years ago.


I did hit the 10-year mark in my retirement, a notable achievement. And I am in great shape financially, despite recent market losses. My WR remains under 2%.
 
Good! In April, I went to a crawfish boil at a friend's house on the river and I LOVED it- saw a camp/cabin for sale on the way out and called a realtor, and closed on in in early May. Its 20 minutes from our house and we LOVE it- spent nearly every weekend during the spring, summer and fall there. The best part is my neighbors- the next door neighbors especially. She's ALSO retiring in 2020- a REAL (sorry y'all) person to discuss retirement plans (and everything else) with. Another neighbor my age retired last year. They call me if I don't show up on weekends and ask where I am- they're my new "tribe"

Part of the camp was paid for with the sale of a chunk of timberland- the remainder out of cash flow- my goal was to have it paid for by year end and I did- though I paid for part of it with capital gains from mutual funds. It ate into our usual savings rate, but I dislike debt, and we're back to not having any (yay). Kids are doing great- we took several great trips this year- we just got back from a week in the mountains today which was wonderfully relaxing. This morning my retirement countdown calendar says 397 days- that's 13 months to go. So this year will be full of "the last time I ever have to..." Happy New Year to all of you!
 
Overall good. I did retire with severance, also received large unexpected bonuses, and along with starting my pension had one of my best earning years. Also received a larger than expected inheritance from the closeout of my parents estate. One DS got married, another DS went back to school to hopefully get his bachelors degree in 2019.

However, we lost several close friends whose ages were +/- 5 years to ours, and lost one of our neighbors who had FIRED at 59 and lived to 83, still very active. A year ago today we had talked about his travel plans for the year with his wife, how healthy and active he was feeling, and how worried he was about his wife's health - and less than 2 months later, he was gone. Another factor in me choosing to FIRE in 2018.

So DW and I are looking forward to 2019, but realize that nothing is guaranteed... we are just going to enjoy each day we have, and do our best, regardless of what happens in that day, to be thankful for it.
 
It's so nice to see so many families on this forum are doing well. More up's than downs.

Our year started out with DW's knee going out on her, even though we had a repositioning cruise to Europe scheduled for the month of April. With a wheelchair, I rolled the DW all over France, London and Ireland--towing her rolling carryon bag. Never had such good service on airplanes and restaurants.

Upon returning home, the DW got a knee replacement, and she came out of it great after 4 months of pain. We're very thankful for a super orthopedic surgeon.

We continue to camp in our RV in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Got a call when camping that our wayward DD was in jail, and I had to drive home to bail her out. Let me just say she is a behavioral problem that picks very poor quality friends. Her boyfriend totaled out my Honda Civic SI 11/2019. She's yet to take a step forward in life.

Our DGD is now 7 years old, and we have dedicated our lives to raising her permanently. She's tops in her grade in a competitive private school. And she was baptized in the Fall and has had solo's in two church programs this year.

The DW and her girlfriend leave for a Western Caribbean cruise in 2 weeks. She has to have surgery upon her return by a UroGyn surgeon. After recovery, we anticipate she'll have surgery for a hiatal hernia that's causing problems. The good news is that CBD oil has improved her pain levels substantially from arthritis.

2019 has us going to Spain and Paris as soon as DGD gets out of school. She's wanting to see the Eiffel Tower. Then we anticipate spending much of the Summer across town at our lake house with some weeks in the mountains.

We still continue to pray that God is going to place some person in DD's life that will make a change in her heart.
 
Healthy. Both of us.
Daughter is doing well.
Grandson is “smarter than the average bear”.
Only took 1% from retirement funds as we both worked part time.
 
Bamaman said:
It's so nice to see so many families on this forum are doing well. More up's than downs.

We still continue to pray that God is going to place some person in DD's life that will make a change in her heart.
Click to expand...


Bamaman,

Although my DS is not as advanced in his behavioral missteps as it sounds like you have experienced with your daughter, he is certainly headed down the wrong path with alcoholism and bad decisions. We pray the exact same thing for him that you are praying for your daughter.

I will say a prayer for you guys, and surely hope things in 2019 somehow turn towards improvement for both our children. God bless.

Muir
 
Ups and downs for me. On the positive side, we enjoyed a wonderful six weeks in Greece as well as a fun several days in Amsterdam. I was named the “best mentor” out of over 100 mentors at our local university, and was truly amazed at the impact I had on my mentees’ lives. DH had a great physical exam result in December, one of his best ever at almost 60. We enjoyed some nice times with our niece and nephew, who are both doing very well. Financial high points were getting rid of our FA and saving thousands on fees (yay!) and progressing on simplifying our portfolio. Our new Fidelity advisor (free) says we could be spending 30-40% more, but we already enjoy our lifestyle very much so haven’t made any major adjustments yet. We did pay off our HELOC as the rate went up to 4.5%.

On the other hand, I am struggling with a foot issue that has kept me somewhat inactive for months. I love my walks and haven’t been able to do them. Even with resting my foot, I’m still in pain and it doesn’t seem to be improving much, despite going to three different docs for help. This inactivity, plus a lack of discipline when it comes to food and wine, has me up about 15 lbs, and I was already about 10 lbs up in January 2018, so now I have a 25 lb hurdle to overcome. I’m motivated because I know it won’t get any easier, but I’m frustrated with myself and with my injury. Our dog was diagnosed with heart problems and is now on meds and needs an EKG every 9 months. His lifespan will probably be shorter than we had hoped.

I learned that I took on too much volunteering and that unpaid Board work is still w*rk. I’ve already started cutting back on that and anticipate making further adjustments to get better balance. I will use the extra free time to focus on losing weight and exercising in new ways that don’t stress my foot. Financially, like anyone else invested in equities, our net worth declined this year, but we’re staying the course and have a two to three year cash buffer so we sleep well despite the volatility.

Overall, we have wonderful friends, love where we live, love each other and enjoy traveling together so life is good and I’m grateful. However, I’ve never had to deal with a mobility issue before and have found it pretty depressing. Hopefully I will find a solution to that in 2019.

Happy New Year, everyone!
 
Overall a good year. We completed our move from MI to WA by purchasing a home, which makes us feel totally grounded. Initially we'd rented and that sucked due to the neighborhood and the crazy neighbor.

Our new property has a small orchard and we enjoyed one crop after another all summer. This ranch house is the house I've always wanted, so even if we did buy probably at the top of the local housing bubble, we are totally happy with the purchase.

No health problems, so we are counting our blessings and vowing to travel more now that we are settled before health issues make travel harder.
 
Year started out well, but then I had two of my best friends die in the fall and an acquaintance's wife died also. One had cancer and we realized he would not live long. The other had a heart attack while riding his motorcycle. Three funerals in 1 month...ouch.

Hope 2019 will be better in that regard. Also FIRE'd on 12/31/18, so this is my first full week of no j*b.
 
The year 2018 held a series of completely unexpected health issues and related expenses.

Jan. 2018

I tripped on an uneven sidewalk, faceplanted, and broke my shoulder. It was a very bad break; I avoided surgery by doing everything the ortho said – complete immobilization for a couple of weeks, followed by months of rigorous PT 2/3 times per week, along with home exercises 3 times/day. I live alone and drive a stick shift car; could not drive for 8 weeks. Seriously disrupted my life and daily finances – I needed to pay for services, including transportation everywhere.

Late May 2018

Two weeks before my shoulder PT ended, I went for a routine annual mammogram. They called me back due to “suspicious calcifications.” Had a diagnostic mammogram the next day. Results were inconclusive. Went for a second opinion; biopsy was recommended. Biopsy was done – results came back as DCIS, which is ductal carcinoma in situ – not invasive cancer and not lethal at that stage, although DCIS can eventually progress to IDC, which is invasive cancer.

Mid June 2018

Oncology surgeon recommended lumpectomy. Having done my research on the potential for DCIS to progress, I told him to do a double mastectomy. We went back and forth for about 10 minutes until he realized who he was dealing with! I had the double mastectomy on 6/15. Recovery took a few weeks but went well. I opted for zero reconstruction, which definitely made for a simpler and easier recovery.

Final pathology results from the mastectomy showed a very early stage of invasive cancer (Stage IA, 1.1 cm) with no vascular involvement and no lymph node involvement, thank goodness. This wasn’t captured by the pre-surgical biopsy because it was in a slightly different location.

The tumor was sent for genomic testing (Oncotype DX) and my “recurrence score” without chemo was quite high.

August 2018

I began chemo on 8/2/18; I had four cycles with the final one on 10/4/18. Ended up in the hospital for 2-3 days after the first and second cycles due to side effects. Fun times. ☹

Now

Tomorrow marks the 3-month anniversary of the end of chemo. I will see my medical oncologist for a routine follow up tomorrow, but have no reason to expect any bad news. And my hair is finally growing back!!!

While I would not have chosen to undergo this experience, I feel extremely blessed and fortunate for many reasons:

My extended family members in town and my friends are amazing, and stood with me through all the challenges.

I have the option to work from home, and was able to do so every day except for chemo treatment days and days actually spent in the hospital.

My boss was/is amazing, as are my coworkers. I’ve gotten a lot of emotional support there.

I have “cadillac level” insurance with my employer and never truly appreciated it until this year!

I live 20 minutes from an NCI Designated Cancer Center, and also took that for granted until this year.

The "rainy day fund" I have been building for years meant that I was able to handle the financial hit of the cancer treatment and ancillary costs without any adverse effects on my long-term financial plans. Without the financial worry I was able to focus every ounce of energy on healing and getting well, which was a blessing. Not everyone I saw at the hospital was as fortunate as I was in this regard.

This year I learned for the first time that your life can change in the space of ten minutes and a few words, and I do not take my health for granted anymore.

I wish everyone here a healthy and happy 2019! I personally am hoping for an extremely boring year! :dance:
 
Goodness, Calico! What a genuinely awful year you had. My sincere and heartfelt sympathies. I am hoping 2019 is serene and boring, compared with all you went through in 2018. I wish a healthy and Happy New Year to you, too!
 
Calico, I wish you a speedy total recovery and long life. You have been through a lot!:)

This year, DD got married in April and Dad (me) sprung for the wedding! Why not, my beautiful 38 year old daughter deserves a nice wedding! We had a great turnout; cousins from all over the U.S. and tons of friends and other relatives! My BIL, Marty, from Wisconsin, conducted the ceremony. He is a retired Professor at U of Wisc. and a Lay Minister. BTW, he married DW and I 22 years ago.:cool:

DD's new husband has contracted Hydrocephalus in June and now has a shunt in his head. He's doing OK, but this stuff is hard to fix in one or two tries. We are praying for his total recovery.

DW is doing fine but her COPD is getting worse. She's on oxygen 100 % of the time and not very healthy overall due to her inability to be very active. She's a strong person and is dealing with all the issues. She is getting less and less mobile each passing day though.

I contracted an uncontrollable heartbeat situation (SVT) and had a bunch of heart tests done over the Fall. The heart is very strong and arteries are fine, but the darn thing beats too fast once in a while. Last week, that was "taken care of" via an ablation procedure. :cool::) Now resuming my exercise routine again with no more "almost" fainting issues. I am also off blood pressure meds for good (guess I never needed them, per the cardiologist)

Our Rough Coat Jack Russell Terrier is continuing to take control of DW and my life each and every day. I clearly believe he rescued us instead of the other way around! I've never had a dog as smart and routine oriented as this little guy!:D

Some more sad news came our way Christmas day when DW's oldest child, her 52 year old son Paul, told us he has 4th stage bone cancer. He just found out after a trip to the ER with two fractured vertebrae in his back. He also found out he has severe osteoporosis. We don't know where this is going with the cancer as of yet as he is scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy this week.:(

We are hoping for a better year in 2019 with positive resolutions to the family's health problems as 2018 has been a rough road to be on.

Happy New Year to everyone here! :)
 
W2R said:
Goodness, Calico! What a genuinely awful year you had. My sincere and heartfelt sympathies. I am hoping 2019 is serene and boring, compared with all you went through in 2018. I wish a healthy and Happy New Year to you, too!
Click to expand...

Thank you very much, W2R. It is not a year I would wish to repeat, that's for sure. Serene and boring for 2019 sounds perfect!

I am very sorry for all the losses you experienced of people close to you in 2018. It's difficult to grieve for one person, let alone several in one year. I can't imagine how difficult that would be. :(

I wish good health to you and to all the people you care about in the coming year. :)
 
One word, Volatile. In the markets, and in personal life. Really looking forward to our 2019 memories.



Saw kids grow, lost some good ones, some got sick, some got very sick, some got better. Some relationships grew stronger, some weaker. Traveling was challenging and rewarding, but different with two small ones growing.


BIL returned safely from a USAF deployment and we were all grateful for that but immediately offset with news of Sister's stage 4. She is doing alright and so are we.



Looking forward to our big Sarasota trip in a few weeks. Will be house hunting for a potential investment property and enjoying much needed down time. Cheers to 2018 and raise a glass to 2019.
 
The year started badly for us with the death of my wife’s BIL of pancreatic cancer. We all met in college and have been very close ever since. Later in the year a cousin of mine who I grew up with and was very good friends died of a cardiac arrest. He was 6 weeks younger than me.

Our own health has been pretty good. I had a suspicious mole and 2 suspicious lesions incised and the tests were negative. (My younger brother had a melanoma incised a couple of years ago). I had AF Ablation surgery to correct the atrial fibrillation I have had since 2015. That was 3 months ago and I haven’t had a single incident since. I go back for a follow up appointment in a couple of weeks and expect to be taken off the blood thinners I have been on. My wife has recently had cataract surgery on both eyes. Complicated because of the RK surgery she had done in 1989 but it seems to be working out well.

We had several vacations in the UK plus a 2 week cruise to Norway including 3 days inside the Arctic Circle. We absolute love where we live, which is in a small market town right on the edge of the N. York’s National Park and we do lots of hiking in the area.

We are now starting our 10th year of retirement and have our major vacations booked for the year. The month of March will be spent in the USA, Panama Canal cruise plus time with our daughter in LA. We have 3 weeks booked with friends to travel to the Scilly Isles in May then in July travel with some family members to spend 2 weeks in a cottage in the south of France, close to Nimes.
 
Calico, wishing you a boring, uneventful and very peaceful 2019 :flowers:
 
Calico said:
Thank you very much, W2R. It is not a year I would wish to repeat, that's for sure. Serene and boring for 2019 sounds perfect!

I am very sorry for all the losses you experienced of people close to you in 2018. It's difficult to grieve for one person, let alone several in one year. I can't imagine how difficult that would be. :(

I wish good health to you and to all the people you care about in the coming year. :)
Click to expand...

Thank you so much. I told Frank that he'd better not croak this year or else! :LOL: I suppose that sounds like a morbid and bizarre thing to say, but he gets it and dutifully promises to take especially good care of himself this year. :D
 
aja8888 said:
Calico, I wish you a speedy total recovery and long life. You have been through a lot! :) .........
Click to expand...

Thank you very much, aja. Between the surgery, the chemo, and the med I am on for the next five years, my chance of recurrence is now extremely small. I feel good about the future and fortunate that it was found very early. :)

I am sorry to hear about all the health issues you and yours have been dealing with this year, and wish you all a better 2019 health-wise.
 
W2R said:
Thank you so much. I told Frank that he'd better not croak this year or else! :LOL: I suppose that sounds like a morbid and bizarre thing to say, but he gets it and dutifully promises to take especially good care of himself this year. :D
Click to expand...

I don't think that sounds morbid or bizarre, and I am glad Frank is following through on your instructions! :)
 
If this thread doesn't persuade people to save money and retire early, I don't know what will.

My heart goes out to everyone that experienced difficult times last year.

2018 was a little bumpy for DH and me, but there were good times too. Gotta savor those good times don't ya know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Retired 10 years today!
Replies
20
Views
2K
walkinwood
walkinwood
E
Swim spa cover recommendations
Replies
1
Views
264
CaptTom
C
S
Anyone else here grow up on a farm?
2
Replies
29
Views
2K
Gallaher
G
PointBreeze
  • Locked
So grateful for the ACA
3 4 5
Replies
115
Views
5K
braumeister
braumeister
E
  • Locked
Covid deaths still happening
Replies
15
Views
819
Gumby
Gumby

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom