Thursday, October 23, 2014

34 turns around the sun

I'm not gonna lie, 34 was a rough year.  Thing 3 became mobile and it turned everyone's life skeewumpas. I am not exaggerating.

Maybe a barometer for how things are going in my life would be this blog.  On average, my 33rd year had close to 200 posts, which is lower than previous years, and last year barely cracked 50, and that includes the 30 posts of NaBloPoMo in November. True, having 3 kids slowed me down, but there's something about Thing 3 that demands constant vigilance. If he's not demanding you to be near him - and you best not be on any device, because you must give ALL the attentions and he knows if your eyes wander (and he'll try to smash whatever the offending device is), then he's off ripping up the carpet in the living room or trying to get into the knife drawer or something else equally terrifying. I get nothing done. Nothing. My kids have never been the passive type. 

So my entire 34th year has been spent trying to keep him alive. And try to parent the other 2 while he voices his displeasure at being excluded. I've literally taught entire violin lessons with him screaming at my feet.   

Okay, this sounds way too negative. I adore him, and I love my life. And I adore him despite his attempts to turn me into his personal Igor-type slave.  But as I look back and feel sad that my list of adventures gets smaller every year, I have to remember most of my life this year was spent behind the scenes. And when Thing 3 finally becomes an astronaut just like his siblings and one of them is also president and the other one needs to be a doctor so I can get prescriptions whenever I want because have you ever gone to the doc sick as a dog and they tell you should come back later if it gets worse and you're like I'm here so it doesn't get worse!! That was pretty much the Great Bronchitis Spring 2 years ago when the entire family ended up inhalers because the doctors kept saying wait and see... one of my kids is going to med school dagnabit!!! - I will then take myself on a much deserved vacation to somewhere in the South Pacific where I stay in a private cabana on the water and check off my bucket item of skinny dipping because by that age, I won't have to worry about anyone checking me out because get serious. 

Ahhhhh........

Okay, let's got cracking.  Here's a totally non-comprehensive list of things that I did when I was 34 that I found pictoral evidence of on my computer!  Yay!!



 My band made our Stone Mountain Highland Games debut!  We killed it and got invited back for a second year, what what!

The family took Star Wars Reads day seriously this year.   (I'm Medusa in the first one.  But I did make those robes myself - AND Thing 3's entire Yoda costume, that he wore for a whole 3 seconds.  Worth it.)

We drove to CO for Thanksgiving, which means DAY AFTER T-DAY SUSHIGANZA. 

 I made this picture happen.

And this one.  I live for photo-ops.

Celebrated one year of this guy....


Which also meant celebrating one year of the husband being the bishop.

Headed to ATL for St. Patty's and found a gigantic instagram selfie we'd taken on a Cajun restaurant window.  Of course.

 Took the kids to a NPR show taping to see Twin Forks and ended up having a delightful convo about teaching music with lead singer Chris Carrabba (yeah, Dashboard Confessional fame).  He thought our kids were adorbs.  Smart celeb.

 I bought some rainboots.  The kids stole them and lost the insoles.  No biggie.

 WonderGirl started Harry Potter ..... !!!!!  Experiencing it with her was awweesomesauce!

Went to ATL to play the Blairsville Scottish Festival with the band for what... year 7? 8? And then....

 They headed up to Clowntown to play some shows here!!  My awesome points around these points HAVE to have gone up.  I haven't seen evidence yet, but I'm sure everyone is trying to play it cool.

 Tried to survive the summer.  Managed barely.
 The day he final HP book came out, I woke up and rushed to buy a copy, and dragged WG with me.  We came full circle when she was ready to read book 7 and had to recreate the moment.  How freaking cool was that???

 Family reunion!  There were 87 kids and no one sustained serious injuries (besides hearing loss)!!  Success!!

I parented...

 and parented some more.
 Went to the temple!  Ate Greek food on the way home!

 There is no point to this picture.  Just thought I'd add it.

 Aaaaaand WG got baptised.   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So that was year 34.  I also saw my psychiatrist a bunch and at one point my mother bought a plane ticket to come visit that very day because I was such a mess, but the highlights are why I keep trudging along.  It's a good life.



2 comments:

kimbo said...

Maybe it's a Wisconsin thing? I managed to get myself to the clinic this week so my family wouldn't have to see me die at home and I don't think they took me very seriously.

Regardless, congrats on your 34 years! You're pretty amazing stuff. :)

Jane said...

I love your ability to recreate photos so we see the changes and the not-so-changes. You haven't aged a day in all of blogging - just the hair style alters a little - and the kids are adorable beyond belief.
Congratulations on being the rock star of EVERYthing!

HEAR YE. I need to document the fact that I ran 3 miles and didn't feel like death.  So just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, I did...