2013

The theme of last year was “TRANSITIONS.”

The kids are growing so fast…The Boy is a first grader now, loving Legos, video games, baseball, and books. “Little” Girl is a seventh grader, a talented musician and a budding Thespian, a texting fiend and learning how to apply makeup. (Yikes!) “Big” Girl has transitioned into a Young Lady. She is learning to drive, exploring her independence, and testing her wings to prepare for the flight from the nest. My kids are healthy and strong, funny and kind, smart and thoughtful, and exasperating at times! But what a wonderful year for them, and for us. 🙂

My husband has seen his job wind down to a close in 2013. He worked as Director of IT, and celebrated his 17th Anniversary with the company on December 23rd, knowing that December 31st would be his last day. The company will be closing in 2014. He is unemployed at the moment, but will be doing consulting work for the time being. We are blessed to have a severance package to lean on temporarily, so we are not panicking yet and he is looking forward to starting fresh with new opportunities…transitions galore!

In 2013, things took a drastic turn for me when I was elected to my district’s Board of Education. It woke the teacher in me from it’s six year sleep, and I decided to go back to school to work on my Certificate of Advanced Study in Administration. I stepped foot into a college classroom as a student for the first time in 16 years and loved it! Three credits down, 27 to go for my Building Leadership Degree, 8 additional if I want to pursue my District Leadership Degree. Time will tell. The family has adjusted very well to having Mommy out of the house a bit more often in the evenings to attend various meetings and functions, and Mommy has adjusted very well to being out of the house a bit more!

Highlights of the year included a trip to Disney World in April. We spent our vacation on property for the first time in a decade, and enjoyed every single minute of it! I would say it was my favorite Disney trip in our family’s history. We also took a trip to Plymouth, Massachusetts for a few days to see friends who own a beach cottage in Duxbury. Such fun!! And we took a local camping trip with three other families in August and had a blast! We hated for it to end and can’t wait to do it again this August. And I can’t fail to mention Zan’s purchase of a beautiful clearwater blue ’67 Mustang in pristine condition. 🙂

We had some family losses last year with the death of my Memiere and my Uncle, whose losses were felt sorely over the holidays. However, softening those losses, was the sweet face of my new niece who was born on October 9th! Our family is so blessed!

And finally, I have this saying written on a mirror in my bathroom, and it’s daily reminder has been an inspiration to me and has caused an internal transition to my Soul: