Thread by @HoarseWisperer

Before we all start to scatter for the holidays, a personal one - which I will try to keep brief.

If you’ve been following me for a while or read my pinned thread, it won’t shock you to hear that this year has been A LOT for me personally.

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The year started with me reeling under the collective weight of a metric shit-ton of bad things.

February was a bottom of sorts. It was like the moment when you have bounced and tumbled down a cliffside and finally reach the canyon floor.

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On the one hand, there’s some relief in having reached the end of a long, slow, plummet over rocks and gravel.

On the other hand, you just fell off a goddamn cliff.

And that hurts. And it hurts to get up.

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The months since have been a slow stretching of muscles. A flexing of joints. A self-inventory for injuries.

It ain’t enough to survive hard things though. At some point, you have to stand back up.

That is hard under the best of circumstances.

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For me, it has been made harder by an asphyxiating financial condition born of years of shedding income for more time with my son.

Financial hardship is truly choking.

It coils and wraps like a boa constrictor.

It cuts off your ability to even look or think past it.

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So, with that said, thank you to the people who kindly supported my Patreon and Ko-Fi.

Your kindness pulled loose the constrictor and gave me room to at gasp for breath.

I am so profoundly in your debt. Especially during these holidays, I am so profoundly thankful.

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Next year will be better. I believe that.

It will be better for me. It will be better for all of us. We will make it so.

In the meantime, as we close out the last of what has been a particularly difficult time for me personally, I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you.

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Thank you for you readership and engagement.

Thank you for your patience and indulgence.

Thank you for your support - whether that was moral or material.

It has been a long, painful year.

Thank you for helping me through it.

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