From the Goodreads app, they provide this cool snapshot for the year. Always nice to see a retrospective :)
51 books was a good amount of material but I am determined to to a better job getting they more non-fictions in 2022 than what I did this year.
I think 8 of the 51 were non-fiction out of this list- so, definitely a year of enjoyable reading more than anything else.
Trying to maintain some social distancing within the home during Christmas does NOT make for good pictures or for the best family time.
Welcome to the family Lyra!
Kristen is ridiculously excited and already planning her trip to visit this little angel.
Leaving at 11:00 - sadly we are positive for Covid and have to now quarantine for 10 days. Happy holidays indeed :(
Jacob’s team played pretty well on Saturday and won 2 of 3 matches. I went nice and early with him…leaving the house at 6am to get to his first game…and spent till about 2 following him around to his games with Katherine and Katherine’s mom, Melissa, joining me in the sideline watching.
Sunday…while Jacob had Mom, Jaden and Jude to cheer him on, the team did not fare well.
They lost the first match in 2 sets…to the eventual champion and then played a consolation match and won that one 2-0 to close out the tournament.
Just a fun memory
Jaden called tonight as he was working on travel plans for his January break from school.
He called about using some miles he had accumulated for signing up for a card - “I have 3,000 miles…my flight is for less than that…how do I use those miles?”
It was just one of those things that you never have to deal with until you do…so when would you ever learn that 1 mile of award miles doesn’t equal a mile of a flight?”
Well…Jaden was today years old when he learned :)
As part of his birthday plans, he wanted to bowl…so we went to PINz and enjoyed some time together.
We ended up on lane 14.
So he turned 14, on December 14 on lane 14 :)
With as badly as he bowled, I wondered if he would hit 14 on that as well…but no such luck :)
Many more pictures and videos over the 45 minutes…but fun to get to watch those around us participating in something that they love.
Kristen made some cookies and did a good job getting the boys to decorate a few.
Dinner and dessert at home the night of.
Presents
And the next night, a fun night out with friends at a comedy club. Good memories.
Janelle posted that she was going to do 90 miles in November as a fundraiser for ALS in memory of our mom.
We donated, but separately I told her that I would try to run 90 miles during the month in support of that goal and so that she would have company/support, accountability :)
Well, despite the difficulty of missing days for our trip to Colorado for her memorial, I did hit it today!
That was spot of running and I am happy to take a little rest. My goal is to keep
Running a couple times a week and work on some speed…cause that is SLOW. But I also want to work on some other training-strength-as I feel I have lost a lot of muscle mass and strength in the last year.
Kristen had been desperately wanting to get back into Boston to see some lights and enjoy some family time.
Had dinner out at PF Chang’s, walked a whole bunch, took photos and got some dessert at both modern pastry and Mike’s -
This was also Katherine’s first taste of the best cheesecake in Boston :)
Today was my mom’s memorial/celebration of life. It was a small affair but we were blessed that multiple people from my mom’s family traveled to Colorado to have this event with us. We tried to stream it for those who couldn’t attend, but it wasn’t great quality. Ultimately, the important thing was that we had it. It was an important moment for moving forward after this period of languishing grief.
I led the remarks/remembrances and used Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 as the basis for my thoughts. I focused on the “and” that existed in each passage and how the tension is recognizing that we are many times dealing with both at the same time.
I was also really happy that Jacob felt comfortable enough to get up and speak as well. He remembered that my mom’s last words to him included “shave your face” which was funny and true since Jacob is in the midst of that transition phase where he doesn’t get a full beard and the patchiness of the growth doesn’t look good…even though he is adamant that he wants to grow it out :)
I hope it is a good memory for him…it is for me.
Grateful that my mom enabled one more of those through her celebration.
Jacob and the varsity team won the division title game tonight. Exciting game and awesome result for them.
Love the joy on Jacob’s face!
Yes, I really did this.
So, Ben Montano was at our house not too long ago for pictures for kids Homecoming event.
Was really nice to see him and catch up for a few. We talked about playing soccer a bit together again and so, he invited me today to go play tonight.
I agreed before realizing it was outside. I didn’t want to change my mind-I wanted to go hang out and help foster connection and friendship…so, I ran to the store after work and bought my first pair of outdoor cleats and played tonight -only 7 people TOTAL showed up- and made a wreck of myself and those new shoes :)
Mom passed today. After weeks of expecting it, and an amazing amount of time just battling to breathe, her body finally gave out.
She truly was stubborn to the end and got more out of the tiny amount of oxygen and lack of food than you could possibly expect.
I truly think she had in her mind to make it thru her family’s reunion and after that…I am not sure.
