2015

2015: A Retrospective.
They're all great years.  That's what I think when I look back on them, and try to compare them to years past.  Of course there are things that happen that were not wonderful (hello, George's vet bill) but that's just life.  Not everything goes smoothly all of the time.  We had some really fun family vacations-Chicago for spring break, and Bmore/DC for our summer trip.  These included lovely family celebrations: Fred's 80th birthday and spending so much time with Lori & Geoff, and my parents' 50th anniversary party and hanging out with my aunts, Steve Weiss, and other family friends.   It's been exciting/poignant to realize that this is E's last school year at home, and to reflect that there were a lot of maybe "last times" (having her home for Rosh Hashanah//Yom Kippur).  We've had (per usual) a lot of family visits at Hotel Loren.  I made a conscious decision at the end of summer to scale way back on our social obligations and my volunteer commitments to calm down the pace and make the rest of my family not feel like our house is Party Central.  I think I've been pretty successful with that-I did our annual RH dessert party, and hosted a few small things, but that's really been it.  I did some catering, made up business cards, and gave some thought to expanding my personal chef gig-but for now, I've decided not to pursue that.  I've been doing a lot of journaling, introspection, walking with podcasts, and exercise time at the gym-and that's been really, really helpful.  I am realizing that this needs to be a constant thing-you don't just have a lightbulb moment, and are then "cured" of all of your crazy beliefs and actions.  I need to work at it.  I continue to be inspired by my kids-the biggest surprise of being a mother.  Not just that you're proud of who they become and what they do, but that they inspire me to take chances (E), practice what I want to get better at (B), be at peace when things don't quite go as planned (G), go for exciting things that I want (A).  S's business has continued to be successful-he definitely made a lot more money than what he had forecast.  I'm not sure if he will decide to start a fund-he's pretty conservative, and I think for now, he feels like the "safer" course is to continue to consult.  As long as he continues to like it, and it's successful-I'm all good with it.  It would be awesome if some of our stocks took off and we could get some big payouts-but you never know-it's a bit like the lottery.  My plans for this year:  continuing with my journaling, gratitude, and weaning off of so much screen time.  More reading-I will make myself a reading plan and stick with it.  More exercise- I know I keep saying trainer and pilates and don't ever actually follow through with it.  Either do it or stop mentioning it.  I want to be a do-er, not just a dream-er.  What else?  We have some great family trips coming up:  Wizarding World in a few weeks, then our big Disneyworld/Disney cruise extravaganza in June.  And of course E's graduation, A's promotion to middle school-and all the changes for our family's dynamic coming up next fall.  E & I continue to hope for DC, S continues to press for a UC-so it will be what it will be.  I am filled with equal measurements of sadness (how quickly the time has passed-she was just born, I swear, and I will miss her so much) and excitement for her (she is on the cusp of such amazing things-new experiences, new people, a whole new life-and she's someone who did not have the easiest childhood and will have a wonderful adult life.)  It will be fascinating to see how our family shifts to a house of boys and me.  What will that look like?

Anyway-thanks 2015 for another wonderful year.  And welcome 2016-it's going to be a biggie!