December 25, 2004
2004 and Happy Holidays!
Hello all!
In spite of having plans to clean my entire house today, to finish all those knitting projects and clip the bunnies' scary long claws, I have to post something here. Tom, however, has to add the photos - the year in review.
So, what did we do this year?
Here is the short version: (scroll down for more details)
- January we got to meet cousin Grant and Kathy and their kids in Atlanta.
and we went to a baby shower for Avery (born in March)
This is James, Daddy to be, and the children he loves as a Pied Piper...
- Feb was dull, except for Patrick's birthday party and my brewing plans to upturn all our our lives this year. I was also getting ready for my Anshei Mitzvah, an adult Bar Mitzvah, rite of passage in Judaism
- in March Avery arrived, daughter of James and Tioni (I've grown up with James, for those of you who don't see the family resemblance:) I also travelled to DC on Madeleine's 5th grade field trip (great time!) and did my Anshei Mitzvah upon return. Chanting Hebrew in front of the entire congregation is incredible - terrifying, but incredible!
- Somewhere in here I went to NYC with 3 girlfrens - had the most wonderful time! Got to see Christopher Reeves and Michael Moore speak!
- Madeleine had a Laser Tag Birthday in April! And we began biking, in preparation for the MS150. Kids tried it, enjoyed many, if not all of our rides.
Got up to 40 mile rides in the Fall before we realized it wouldn't happen this year. But I have my sights set on 2005.
- We went to Princeton NJ for a wonderful wedding for Kath and Irv, with our one dog in attendance and their three hounds
- Had a great ride along the Delaware at Washington's Crossing
- With some latent canine envy we bought and brought home a beautiful Cairn Terrier puppy from said wedding trip. Dubbed Sparky
- By the end of June I had accepted a job offer in St. Louis, after major negotiations and gladness at not having to do this often. Tom went to Boston for a glass conference and got to catch up with old friends.
- We packed and sorted and cleaned and packed like crazy for half of July
- Snuck in two genealogy trips before we left, having found that some grandparents were buried, all these years I was in Charlotte, some 1.5 hours east.
- Said goodbye to dear dear friends, tearfully
Debsue, Steven and Caitlin
Cindy, Chris and me, talking
Sibyl, me and Madeleine
- said goodbye to dear friends at work too (sniff)
- Drove to St. Louis with 3 kids, 2 dogs, 3 cats, 1 guinea pig and 1 goldfish.
- Unloaded into a hotel room, looked for housing, and waited for our furniture to arrive
- Moved to another hotel (extended stay) for 2nd week and kenneled the cats.
- Nearly had to store all furniture, but finally found the perfect house in a great neighborhood and with incredible schools. This felt something like barely getting off the Titanic on the last little boat. Tom suspects it was like birth from the baby's perspective, lots of sqeezing and pushing.
- Gwyneth started kindergarten in August - her first day! Mommy cries, off and on, for a month.
- Unpacked for Aug, Sept and Oct... Nov, Dec. We hope to buy the house, and it may take a year to unpack and finish decluttering!
- Began to explore the city. This is at City Museum, a fantastic artistic wonderful adventure of a place
- November. Voted. Became more jaded.
- Went to Atlanta for Thanksgiving and Daddy got a pacemaker (surprise!) the same week, helping us to arrange our schedule optimally. He's doing much better now with that titanium ticker. Got to see Uncle Owen, Aunt Kitty, cousin LeeAnne and her children, and later cousin Steven and wonderful friend Susan and her boys.
(not the right image, but close. This from January, almost same gang in Nov, happily:)
- Sold the house in Charlotte (whew!) and paid off some debts. I couldn't make this up: one of the buyers has a given name of Snowhite.
Couldn't have sold it without the help of Theresa, dear friend and coordinator of house repairs:
- Nice Channuaka with gifts for the new house being top of the list. Also accidentally bought 2 guitars on Ebay and got ripped off for a digital camera (but Tom can get our money back). Ebay now on our fuggetaboutit list.
- Several gift packages get mailed on time. This is a first and I want credit for it.
- Actually got serious about holiday cards for the first time in years. Got past the nausea (the pressure gets to me) and decided on simple cards, with only one insert, and pictures to be on blog, as well as long-winded letter (so much for being brief).
- I continue to knits like a fiend and managed to finish 3 hats for kids and still working on many cool gifts.
- Holiday cards yet to be completed - argh, the hand written notes to all we love - what to do??
- Kids left yesterday to see their dad for a week in TN, house all quiet, and we're out of cat food on Christmas day.
- Also planning to make those donations today for Heifer International and to save the penguins (Patricks' charity choice) and for the rainforest. Online is so nice.
So that's about everything. Don't think there is much more detail to add (right! rolling eyes), other than plans to update the genealogy files this week, and finish bookshelves (the basement is still 95% boxes, rendering half the house unusable), and donating lots of stuff and sending more packages! and holiday cards!
oh yes, and baking some more. keeps me sane.
Details
Let's see, Patrick turned 12, Madeleine 11 and Gwyneth, much later in the year, 6. This last was rather tough because I wasn't ready, but I'm making it despite vigorous denial. Somehow her being in Kindergarten was easier than turning 6.
I launched a job search at the beginning of the year, looking for a boost to the career, and was somewhat surprised to find a really good opportunity in St. Louis. For those of you who missed the drama, it was a combination of a good offer/package, getting Tom to live in the same town (he had commuted for 2.5 years - 2 hours from Charlotte) and the kids would be slightly closer to Kurt (my "ex")
Also, we loved St. Louis from the beginning, and my new manager was(is) a spinner. I hit it off so well with him - we may have been siblings in another life. (Right after starting the job they switched my reporting to another manager, but I'll make it.)
And then there is the strange fact that our rabbi from Charlotte of 10 years moved to St. Louis just last year. Finally, the "sign" that confirmed we'd made the right decision: I heard that there are some model programs for youth offenders in Missouri!
(For those of you who don't know, I have secret plans to begin knitting in prisons as a sort of peaceful practice. Yes, I know this will put me in the So Far Out There Not to be Comprehended category on many mental lists. That's fine. Just remember, nothing ever changed because people put up with the status quo. Evolution is a process that brings us to galaxies far far away. It even neatly nullifies the "our forefathers never intended" argument in opposing all progressive endeavors.)
Both the big kids are doing great in school and Patrick continues to show real talent in soccer. Now that we are in a neighborhood they get to hang out with friends much of the time, and aren't too far to make me worry. It's so good to see them making friends right away.
They are also working on forming a band with friends. P still loves drums, and got a stool and stand this year. Maybe a full (used) set if he sticks with it.
Madeleine got tested for the "reach" (gifted) program at school, but didn't quite make it. She reads like a fiend, and is going to enrichment session during lunch once a week. Also got a guitar for Chanuaka, so we're getting closer to being musical:)
Tom is looking for work, at least part time, and has some leads on teaching positions. He finished that huge commission in November, and has his studio set up in the garage - very cold in there. I hope he gets his work in galleries around town. Got a great lead on a possible project for the Temple where we attend. I'm still learning how to live with an artist and the time-space continuum they occupy. He is still trying to learn to live in the world of a business woman with plans to knit in prisons, God love him.
Did I mention the cold - can you say average temp of 35 (!) in St. Louis in the winter? So much for "It's about the same as Charlotte for weather." lines someone fed me.
So my job was a huge pressure pot of performance and egos and politics. Today it's a bit better. I'll survive. I've met some wonderful people, and have learned an enormous lot already - not only in technical terms, but also as a person, as someone who is still learning to listen with her heart, to give every place I go my full spirit, to live in integrity, no matter what the World throws at you.
My lessons this year are about taking chances, and knowing that it's all good. They are about connecting to myself, and to my family, to dear friends new and old, and to people I greet every day. My hero is still the Dalai Lama. One day I hope to be as Present.
(I wonder if you can do that and still knit?)
May all our lives be for a blessing. And may your holidays be blessed and bright.
love,
v
