January: K. ran the humid, sweaty Key West Half Marathon this month. It was a disaster of a run but she was delighted to see the polydactyl cats at the Hemingway House (where she—shockingly—bought a book).
February: D. was busy earning frequent flyer miles this month with business trips to Chicago, Las Vegas, and New York.
March: D. loves the cold and snow so much (HA!) that he went back to Chicago a couple of times this month, including over K.’s birthday. Still debating if it was to get out of giving her a gift or if the quiet of an empty house was the gift.
April: K. got D. tickets to a 3-day music festival that was this month. How to know you’re getting old? You definitely buy the more expensive tickets so you can have access to the private porta-potties, and the free beer, but mostly the porta-potties.
May: K. ran a marathon relay with friends. They took 3rd (of 3, but who’s counting?). K. and D. took a quick trip to Maui for work but they had to leave early to get to Ohio for T.’s college graduation. K. spent the last day of the trip seasick and puking over the side of a small adventure raft so she wasn’t entirely sorry to leave. After graduation, T. moved home, dumping his piles of stuff in the dining room and K.’s office, making it look like we live in an episode of Hoarders. When he and D. headed back to NC, K. went north to Michigan for the summer, where she ran a 10K with her sister. S. won their age group. K. wasn’t last (essentially a win as well) but she is holding a grudge that the fudge prize was not shared with her and was instead taken home to Florida to be shared with family who didn’t run the race.
June: T. sailed in Regionals this month and spent the rest of the month (and much of the summer) looking for a job.
July: D., W., and R. all came up to Michigan over the 4th joining K. and T. It was noisy and wonderful.
August: W. moved into a new apartment in Coral Springs and good parents that we are, we still haven’t seen it. T. sailed in an offshore weekend race in the Atlantic this month. Apparently it was rough seas, which K. was grateful to learn only after T. was safe on shore again since she’d already envisioned A Perfect Storm in her catastrophizing brain. Oh, and everyone on the boat was seasick (so it wasn’t just K. in Hawaii). K. and D. went to Ireland and Scotland for their 25th anniversary trip which Covid had delayed since 2020. Dave did his best to contribute to a nationwide Guinness shortage but he and the friends we traveled with for the Ireland leg were just not up to the task. There were only one or two instances of wrong way turning/driving (and a ton of backseat driving by K. the control freak) so all in all, a success.
September: K. decided that she and D. should take a bicycle tour of Arthur’s Seat outside of Edinburgh but all that happened was that she proved Scottish 5-year-olds are better at riding bikes than she is. After a full Superman over the bike handles, she had two broken ribs and a wrecked shoulder. She did get back on the bike and finish the tour but had to make the acquaintance of the Scottish NHS later that night. T. dog and cat sat while the parents were gone, luckily not starting his new job with AC Talent, working for Weaver Consultants Group in Frankfort, KY, until they were back. He moved into R. and J.’s spare bedroom for a couple of months but left 90% of his stuff at home so we wouldn’t miss him too much (or be able to walk through the dining room). He’s a CQA Technician and uses words like “hot trash,” “sludge viscosity,” and “methane” when describing his job. Delightful, right?! R. and J. got engaged this month. This means K. has to help plan a wedding and D. has to open the wallet enough to pay for it. (Please stop laughing now and say a prayer we don’t kill each other over it!) Another way to know we’re getting old? D. went out to San Francisco to Dreamforce again. Even he is exhausted by all of the schmoozing and partying and K. can’t stay awake long enough to answer a phone call made on Pacific time.
October: This month we had to say a hard goodbye to our sweet 14 ½ year old Gatsby. The house is quiet and sad without her. K. and R. flew up to Mackinac Island to look at possible wedding venues and while K. was brave enough to get back on a bike, she crashed again. No hospital needed this time but she’s taking this as her sign to stay off of bikes forever. When she got home, she was walloped by her first bout with Covid, which D. must have picked up at Dreamforce and kindly shared with her.
November: T. finally moved into his apartment and invited K. to come to Lexington to help him (aka buy him a bed and some other furniture). Why is it that our kids always seem to end up renting places on the highest possible floor in buildings without elevators?! D. didn’t go because he was in Baton Rouge for the LSU-Alabama game with his neighborhood friends (aka the Band of Idiots). His back thanked him for missing out on the move. He also missed snuggling with R. and J.’s sweet new puppy, Fitz, though, so he had to make up for that over Thanksgiving. That puppy’s feet never touched the ground.
Every month: Sammy (8 or 9) hisses at us if we pet him on a schedule he has not approved and Ozzie (6) alternates between K.’s lap and managing D. at work by lounging on the computer keyboard or loafing on the back of Dave’s chair during Zoom calls.
As the year comes to a close, we once again hope that you are surrounded by peace, love, and happiness now and throughout the coming year.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I have had to disable the anonymous comment option to cut down on the spam and I apologize to those of you for whom this makes commenting a chore. I hope you'll still opt to leave me your thoughts. I love to hear what you think, especially so I know I'm not just whistling into the wind here at my computer.