By: Jill Pertler

It’s that time of year. Out with the old, in with the new. It would be an understatement to say that I welcome the new. It would more of an understatement that I still mourn the old. But I’m getting there.

It’s been a year of hardship for me as well as a year of healing. Mostly healing. When I look back to last January, I can honestly say I was walking around in a complete fog. It’s a wonder I got out of bed, much less wrote columns - which I did. I didn’t miss a one.

I think meeting those deadlines helped in ways I didn’t understand at the time. They forced me...