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In between
2008-01-03 - 2:26 p.m. So -- Back at work, but not, I would say, really functional. Going home soon to check on the stay-at-homes. Plus I'm nearly finished with a scarf, and I want to type up some minutes, start some mittens, clean out a closet and make a quilt. You see the problem. I am really not good with New Year's resolutions, although I suppose I could stand to get in better shape (really), and there will be some adjustment to N leaving, and perhaps, we could spend less money. There, those are respectable. I like harriet's (from teranika") 5 x 5 New year's reflection. So here's mine: 20 years ago it was 1987. I'd been married for two years. We were living in California. I'd been out of grad school for a year and a half. K was working. I was working. We were about to decide to get pregnant. I don't know where we were -- except, I think we were actually with K's family in Mexico. There was a brief glorious period where we went on exotic vacations to warm spots at Christmas. We were in the Yucatan. I'd love to go back. I hear it's changed, though. 15 years ago it was 1992. N was three and M was not quite one. We'd moved from married student housing to a rented house in Richmond. K's mother came to help with the move. We moved right before Christmas because I really wanted to be in our own house for Christmas. I remember K's mother giving me the money to buy a tree because they'd only take cash, which I didn't have. It was a very nice Christmas. I'm pretty sure we did not go away. I loved that house. 10 years ago -- 1997. Living in our own house in Richmond. N was 8 and M not quite 6. N was in 2nd grade and M in Kindergarten. It was a happy time. We probably went to Ann Arbor to see K's parents for New Years. My nephew Liam would have been born, and would have been about 1. I think he would have been there. K's parents would have gone wild getting ready for visiting grandchildren. It was very fun to visit them in those years. 5 years ago -- 2002. N would have been 13 and M not quite 11. M would have been in 7th grade, which she liked, and M in 5th. Again, we were most likely in Ann Arbor, now with four cousins -- Liam 5, and Maggie 1, Kielan 3 and Innes 2. Chaos reigned, I'm sure. That was a few years after their 50th anniversary, but the pattern would have remained. My sister-in-law M would have been dodging children while at work on some great project in the basement while F and I ran herd, not completely happy about it. We would have played in the snow. We may even have gone skiing at the golf course that year. That may have been the year we all learned how to knit, although I think that was the year after, because that was the year I knit snake scarves for all the nieces and nephews, and Maggie would have been older than one that year. K and I slept down in the basement on an air mattress, and N and M up in E's study. I remember N coming down in the middle of the night, triumphant, to show me her first finished mitten. I also remember trying to celebrate New year's very very quietly in the kitchen, just the four of us, and the girls being incensed that no one else would stay up with us. I doubt that was the year Liam got a fire truck for Christmas, but he did one year and it woke us all in the middle of the night when he rolled over onto it, causing it to squawk "rescue 911." This year we were just home from Pittsburgh. N is 18 and M nearly 16. We planned to come home early, just in case there were any last minute application things we needed to do from home. Instead, on the 30th I was driving around Pittsburgh to make sure that N's acceptance of her college acceptance, plus a 2 x 3 picture (a picture! do they know how hard that is? She was stalling for weeks. Luckily, we got Maren to take a nice one, and print it out for us. Bad as she was as a child wrangler, she is great as a last minute emergency photographer, and a good one) got into the mail by the 31st. Speaking of which, I should call to make sure that they got it. Anyway, after flying home on the morning of the 31st, K and I went (sleepily) to one party, M to another, and N hosted her own at our house. It went quite well -- they drank some punch (spiked), smoked N's Spanish hookah, sent up some fireworks, but all in a fairly civilized fashion. See how fast it goes? Less than 20 years from having no children to having one ready to head off to college. She got many Maine themed gifts at the annual gift-exchange with K's family. We found her some moose-y socks on our annual shopping trip, and Maren and Neil Last night N's first boyfriend W came over. I don't think they've been going out for a year or two, now, but there is still something going on. They like to play games, and W can't stand it when N beats him, which she does quite often. We all played hearts, and I trounced everyone -- I think I had -15 points at the end AND I shot the moon, so the next closest person was M, who had about 45 points. I should point out that this never ever happens. It was an unusual night -- K played for a while, and then M played, and in good humor. N did not win, and I did. All unusual. I actually like W. His parents are divorced, and it seems to have made him more grown-up than many other 17-year-old boys. He's great with the logistics of getting from one house to the other, but also he's perfectly okay with playing games with us. He sort of suits us. Not that I am advocated for anything between him and N. I think it's fine either way, not that anyone is asking. Okay -- I'm leaving now. I love this time after Christmas and before everyone has quite gotten back into the swing of things. Bye. Okay. My head is spinning, and I think I'll go home.
find me! - 2008-02-12 |
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