but we've wander'd mony a weary foot sin auld lang syne

At what point do you declare something a relic of the past? If you're me, that's a question that often doesn't get answered, because even if it's a dying tradition and no one else cares a lick about it, I'm still likely to keep it on life support. This blog, and more specifically to this moment in time, this annual end-of-the-year post are both currently fitting in this category. Sure, I haven't written anything much this entire year, but a tradition is a tradition, and this just happens to be one that I adore immensely.  

Back in 2007, our family had a pretty monumental year, welcoming our third and final child to the crew, and I took all that new mama pride and combined it with my appreciation for anything even resembling a list. And that's how a new tradition was born that year, as well. Each year since, I've spent the last week of December jotting down notes and scrolling through pictures from the previous twelve months in order to find ten happy highlights to focus on and finish out the year on a high note. The results live on forever here on the blog for all the years since: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

So even in recent years when my personal writing has waned, I find myself at the end of December compelled to keep the tradition alive. Maybe these posts will bring a smile to my elderly face in years to come, or perhaps one of the kids will read them when they're adults and wonder how in the hell they made it through their childhood raised by such a weirdo. Whatever comes, I know that this is how I will wrap up 2019, a year of many ups and downs-- with ten ups and wishes for many more to come.

The Top Ten Things that I Liked, Laughed At, Smiled About, or Generally-Remember-in-a-Fond-Way of 2019:

10. It's like wild kingdom out there.
We moved into our beloved home a little over two years ago, and since the very beginning, we've delighted in looking out our living room windows and seeing all sorts of creatures. Okay, it's not like they're unusual animals, but the chipmunks, groundhogs, rabbits, deer, and wide variety of birds (who are notoriously hard to photograph with my cell phone!) make me smile, nonetheless. This year, we even have a fawn that is leucistic-- lots of white patches all over its body. We've only seen that one with its family a few times this fall and winter, and no good pic... yet.

And when I'm not watching the mammalian or avian wildlife, I just might be enamored with a bug of some kind. This year saw more new bug discoveries for me and along with my obsession with the app Seek, I got to more easily identify many of them. I know this might not be most folks' thing, but damn if a cool bug doesn't make me happy.

9. What is felix felicis?
Our favorite place in town is a lovely wine bar owned by a dear friend, and this year we somehow got roped into agreed to host (almost) monthly trivia nights there around the theme of Harry Potter! Some nights saw small to medium crowds, and one night we had 22 teams, which made for some looooonnng scoring breaks for me and the hubby! I may have been literally shaken with wild nerves before each night, but I most definitely had a ton of fun with a microphone in my hand in front of a crowd. The work of creating the questions beforehand takes a while, so one of the first things I need to do in the new year is prepare for our first trivia night of 2020!

8. Selfies with the dogs are my favorite kinds of selfies!
I'm a big fan of taking selfies-- documenting fun places I've been and wacky things I've done always lends itself well to selfies, but the best kind are the ones that I make my dogs take with me. It's not too hard a thing to do, since anytime I'm at home, I'm 99% likely to have at least one dog either on me or within arm's reach. Max and Minny are incredibly loving and usually snuggly, and I want them to live forever and ever because I love them so. And look how photogenic they are??

7. How did we get so lucky in one lifetime?
Unfortunately, 2019 will forever be marked as the year of many family tears, as we lost two beloved members. My uncle Tommy, a sweet soul was taken much too early care of a heartless driver who hit him and left him to die. My family was devastated, and as we do, we cried and laughed and laughed and cried together for the week that I was able to be there. I returned to CT again six months later for the funeral of my 91-year-old grandma, and again, I spent time with my wacky extended family alternately laughing and crying. That's how we do-- there was so much laughter each time, which helped us all. I adore these folks, even if we don't get to see each other too often, and each time I'm back there, I'm reminded of where I come from and who helped make me become the person I am today. I'm grateful beyond expression for them all-- my incredible parents and my slew of aunts, uncles, and cousins.

And when you don't live near family, you work hard to find the people who may not be related to you but with whom you share a strong enough affinity that they soon become just like family. We are so fortunate to have a plethora of these people in our lives, and these honorary family members play such an important role in our lives. For me, these are the people who truly know me and for some reason keep answering my calls. (Or more likely texts and FB messages filled with inappropriate memes and gifs.) I don't know what I'd do without these friendships-- the casual hangouts, the weekend trips away, the murder mystery adventure(s?), the IKEA wackiness, the texting about personal joys and pains, the board games and glasses of wine-- they've all become dear, dear parts of my life, and for all of them, I am thankful.

6. #GotAJob2019
This year started with me still in recovery mode from my hysterectomy surgery, but I knew it was time to figure out my employment sitch. I wanted to get away from direct care and education of young children, but my heart will always be in the field, so what could I do? It turns out that the perfect job was just around the corner in mid-2019. I'm thrilled to have five months under my belt in an administrative position at a university in which I still support education and educators! My colleagues are truly amazing people, and I continue to learn more and more on the job. I have a lovely office which I quickly made my own, and while I'll never be a fan of waking up at 6 am, I do head in every day happy to get to work.

5. This kid knows who they are!
I haven't blogged about the kids in a while, in great part because they're all adolescents now living their own complex lives. So, suffice it to say that it's been an eventful year for our youngest. This kid has had some ups and downs, but one thing that came out of 2019 is a feeling that our 'baby' is truly finding their own way in the world. This was the year that funky colored hair found its way back into our lives through our youngest, and I love the way this kid looks in both purple (what it started out as) and pink (what it turned into) hair. I believe 2020 will bring a new color and a new look, and I know that this kid will always make me smile.

4. What a dazzling smile!!
With the kids, I could obviously pick any of a million things to post about that made me smile throughout the year, but I try to pick one little thing to highlight without going too cray into their personal lives. For our middle child, this was an easy choice, because 2019 brought to an end a two-year run of struggles... that's right, this year saw the removal of (almost all) the mouth hardware and the emergence of an amazing smile that shows all the pain she persevered through! This kid had to endure the horror of a palate expander, external headgear, and braces for two years, and now with only retainers remaining, she is showing off her proud smile everywhere she goes. I know none of it has been even close to easy, but the strength that she showed through it all blew me away. When she smiles, we all smile now!

3. More and more freedom each year for this one!
This year saw our oldest get his driving license, and just in time to start taking some college courses and provide occasional chauffeuring services for his siblings' various evening activities. As I am a non-driving adult, this has come in handy at times, and I appreciate his willingness to help out. This kid has also had a year of ups and downs, and lots of new experiences, and even when he drives us up a wall (so far just figuratively!), he's still our first baby and we love him dearly. We hope the new year brings him even more smiles and successes.

2. Time is all we need.
This summer, Hubby and I were given the most amazing gift there is-- time to be together. With the two younger kids away on an adventure with their grandmother and the eldest working and doing his own thing, Hubby and I were left with time to go out together, hang out with friends, and even get away on our own. That's right, we did something we've long wanted to do-- we went camping for a weekend all by ourselves. We didn't even bring the dogs, so there was no reason whatsoever to get up early or leave the hammock unless we wanted to. While the beginning of the weekend was a bit rocky, care of a flooded state park that we didn't expect and that caused us to have to scramble a bit to find a replacement site, but once we got it all figured out, it was a weekend of pure bliss. Eggs and ham for dinner by the campfire, lounging away a gorgeous day, backgammon championships, heading into town for a stroll and some grub, enjoying the outdoors without having to think about anyone else's needs... perfection. This guy has brought a smile to my face for over 25 years now, and this camping weekend was just one of many happy times of 2019.

1. A couple days on a beautiful isle seeing a little up-and-coming show...
Thanks to the generosity of some amazing family members (thank you again, and a million times more, you guys!!), I joined my cousins and aunt back in January on a short jaunt to the freaking gorgeous island of Puerto Rico. While there, we walked around almost all of Old San Juan, ate some delicious food, practiced our various levels of Español, and went to see a little show called Hamilton. The lead just happened to be THE Lin-Manuel Miranda, performing on his very own birthday!! The show was more than I could ever have expected, and I didn't have enough eyeballs to see all the things I wanted to see simultaneously. Though I didn't blog much this year, there was no way this once-in-a-lifetime trip wasn't going to be documented here. So no need to go into the details, or even to show all the pictures again, except for this one. I do believe that this may have been the cheesiest, goofiest, most-facial-muscles-ever-used-in-one-expression smile I smiled all year, and it was all because I happened to be standing next to THE Luis A. Miranda, Jr. as I waited to purchase all the merchandise at the Tee Rico stand before the show. I about lost my mind, and thankfully one of my cousins had the foresight to capture the moment on video, so I have a record of sounding absolutely bananas as I thanked him for raising the Shakespeare of our generation. Yup, #Isaidit and #Imnotevenembarrassed. This pic isn't flattering in the least, my bra strap is visible, my squinted eyes are apparently incapable of taking in what is happening, and I am the happiest I could possibly be in this moment.

There you have it-- a year that was filled with some amazing ups and downs, but at the end of it all, it's really only the ups that I want to focus on. Who knows what 2020 will bring. Clarity? (ha, couldn't help myself!). A new administration? (Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease. PLEASE.) We'll have a middle schooler, a high schooler, and a college kid. We'll celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, family gatherings, and friend getaways. And if there's anyone out there reading this, I hope you and yours are treated to joy, love, and laughter in the measures that we've been fortunate to experience.


Title inspiration: "Auld Lang Syne" by Robert Burns