Mommy's Blog: 2020!

A whole new decade is upon us, dear ones. How did that happen so fast?? Wasn't it moments ago that we were planning for "Y2K" and mystifies that we were old enough to be entering a new Millennium?? (and we were soooo young. we had no idea how young we were...)

If this first month is any indicator, 2020 is on track to be as busy as ever. I need to set some intentions and try to slow time down a bit, because I can barely keep up with the pace it's moving! Here we are on February first and I am writing about New Year's eve...

Before I give you a quick photo recap of the first half of January, here are my ruminations on the decade past and the decade to come.

Highlights of the "10's":
A decade in the trenches of parenting. We opened with the birth of our second child, traveled through a cancer diagnosis and out the other side, and ended with a middle schooler in our house... And in between we filled those 3650 days with everything from diaper changes and preschool concerts, to school conferences and sports practices. Nat and I started doing things like serving on boards for nonprofits, which seems terribly grown up. Many teeth grown in and lost and grown in again. We loved on one dog, said goodbye to her, and brought a new pup into our hearts. We traveled! To the ocean, twice, and to the Rockies and ten (ten!) summers at Farley's where the days blend year to year in a haze of tradition, boat rides, and blue water. We moved from days spent holding and nursing and chasing tiny ones to the halcyon afternoons of adult freedom at cocktail hour, while kiddos went to play with cousins and friends. Jack learned to ride a bike and ski and play trombone and swim beautifully and play soccer and he grew and grew and grew. Ivy learned to walk and talk and be a model student and swim and play piano and cello and she grew and grew and grew.

I am breathless just thinking back on these ten years. It seems I never looked up once to notice where I was. There was just too much-- too much laundry, too much night-waking, too much care-giving and hand-holding and driving and working and loving-- to take a breath or soak it in.

Thank heavens for pictures.

Looking ahead: I hope I can find a way to notice this next decade, to see in more clarity the beauty of each phase of life, each mundane moment, as we are living them and not just in hindsight. I'm getting more sleep these days, and entering my 40's has really shifted my perspective. I think I'm more prepared now to do that notice, to give myself over to gratitude-- though its going to take work because there's still too much on most of my days. I don't want to give up an ounce of that "too much," though (well, except for laundry, that is). I've always wanted to do it all. My favorite way to eat is at a buffet and I imagine I'll keep living my live that way in these next 10 years. I plan to take a few more breathers, though, to look around at the scenery.

Intentions for 2020:

* Eat well and move my body. Health is paramount because I don't want anything to keep me from living the HECK out of this decade.
* Stop and breathe and be grateful, at least two times a day.
* See the world! Prioritize my spending and save for travel. The world is wide and life is short and it's time to get out there... for me and for my family.
* Love madly. The people I am blessed to walk with in my life, the people who cross my path, my animals, the environment, the moment I am in. I will love them all, with all my heart and soul.
* Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly.

Here are my not-so-littles, on the eve of the 20's.

Aren't they so beautiful? How did I get so lucky.

Nat brought his camera to our 20's themed New Year's Eve party and we had a lot of fun with it.

As always, Melinda and Will put on a great event. This year was even more impressive because they'd just returned from a holiday trip to California about 6 hours before hosting. The beauty of our group of friends, though, is there truly is no one to try to impress. We all know each other so well, and love each other so much, we just don't even see any imperfections in one another through our lenses of shared history.

Again, how did I get so lucky??

Started the new year with a 12k run, with some of my favorite running friends. That's something I'm so grateful to have at the beginning of this year. My running groups have given me so much. Fitness and friendship and regular, scheduled opportunities for moving meditation.

Then, a COLD visit to a blue-sky January lake.

Other January moments:

Enjoying the Rink at Wade Oval...

Some lovely dinners out with Anna as we enjoyed her extended stay in Cleveland...

... a reprise of our NYE getup for Mix on January 4th, where we were the only people in 20's garb but we totally rocked it and got lots of compliments. Nat even got comments from BOTH an older African American gentleman in a red suit AND a bearded hipster. Achievement unlocked.