My best moment of 2012 was outweighed by the worst one, by far.

The year is coming to an end, and lists of 2012 “best” and “worst” everything dominate news papers and magazine covers in most countries of the world. Retrospectives of the nearly finished year share the lists of topics of TV variety shows with resolutions for the new year.

To me, the best thing that happened in 2012 was reading a letter from a New York editor saying she is interested in my work. The worst though, that overshadowed everything else, was learning my father was diagnosed with a very serious disease that is deteriorating his quality of life really fast. He’s battling the insurance company to get the treatment he needs, and the whole thing is ghastly. Anxiety rules in my house nowadays. I never felt the weight of living far from my family so deeply.

2012 was a roller coaster that kept me on my toes.

I wish that in 2013 good times outweigh bad ones.