2023 Retrospective

My first retrospective on a year. I had always considered writing one of these but never have. We only get so many years and they seem to blend together the older I get. So what the heck happened in 2023? As I start to recount it a lot happened. The hardest part of putting this together is keeping it short enough. Limiting myself to a few sentences on each topic and only 1 picture.

• Christopher started his senior year of high school this year. Damn that makes me feel old. He is also extra tough to convince that school is worth doing well in. This has been an uphill battle but one we keep fighting and slowly make ground on. Annabelle started 8th grade this year. Her personality has been blossomed a lot this year as she is looking toward her freshman year of high school next year. Briella started 3rd grade which is a big one for her. She will be moving on from primary school to the intermediate school for 4th grade. She says she doesn't want to go, but I think she is excited for it.
• Briella played baseball this year. She had so much fun with it and really came a long way from the beginning of the season. It's so much fun watching her grow and experience new things.
  
  
  
• Annabelle joined track this year. As much as she complains about sports and not wanting to do them anymore I think she had a good time. She always seems to have fun with her friends while she is there regardless of her performance at events. I wish she would continue.

  

  
  
• Cubby joined football. We required him to do a sport this year. He decided to give football a try. I saw a lot of enjoyment and determination from him. If he had started in freshman year I think he would have had a lot of fun with it.

  

  
  
• We got into Jeeps. The easter bunny dropped off a 2000 Jeep Wrangler for us to restore. This turned out to be more of project than expected, but it has been a lot of fun and we have all learned a lot. Even Holly knows what control arms and sway bars are now.

• Then we decided one Jeep wasn't enough. Needed another one. Christopher got his license this year and practically lives in the car so I needed a new daily anyway. Just my luck the car dealer down the street happened to get an orange JLU. Instead of going out for breakfast one day we bought a Jeep. Sometimes the universe just has your back like that.

• We traveled... We traveled a lot.
• Christopher went to Florida with the chorus group at his school. It was a whirlwind of a trip but he seemed to have a lot of fun. Outside of signing they got time at Disney and Universal.
  
  
  
• Holly and Annabelle went to Florida for Stacey's wedding. They got some much needed and uninterrupted mother and daughter bonding time. I think Holly finally found her beach buddy.
  
  
  
• We went to Lake George. An Airbnb host we had stayed with previously gave us an amazing deal on a new place they bought. Granted it was the off season, but it was a nice getaway for the 5 of us to relax and explore.
  
  
  
• Our annual trip to Mystic for the race turned into a nice weekend trip. We got the whole family to go and rented a gigantic Airbnb for us all to stay in. This trip was a ton of fun especially with the endless games of pool and the epic game if hide and seek in that massive house.
  
  
  
• I went to fabulous Las Vegas for a conference. Then Ross & Elliott joined me at the end and we had some fun. Dune buggies was the best part of the trip. We ate, we drank, we sang, we gambled.

  

  
  
• Last but certainly not least, we had our crazy adventure across California. We flew into San Diego and drove up to San Francisco. Stopping at all of the coolest spots and having some fun along the way. Briella finally got to go to Disney! My favorite trip to date. Too many good pictures to choose from so I landed on the funniest one with all of us in it. I hated that stupid 5 person pedal bike, what a terrible idea.

  

  
  
• We lost my grandmother this year. After losing my grandfather last year this really left a hole in my heart. My grandparents have always been there for me over the years. I still remember living at their house with my mother for a short while when I was little. Over the years we have always celebrated on Christmas eve at their house, I don't think I missed one. Grandma and Pop-Pop will forever be missed.
• Cubby almost died in a car accident. Lesson learned the hard way here. Wear a seat belt and don't go fast on back roads.
  
  
  
• After Lacey passing last year the house hasn't been the same without a dog. We rescued two dogs this year. Zoey joined from a local foster at the energetic age of 1. Ozzy hopped a ride on a big rig and made his way to us at about 6 months old. Our chaos level in the house has now been restored back to its former setting.
  
  
  
• Holly got a new job. She found a great gig at Briella's school. She gets to hang out with Briella during the day and her schedule ebbs and flows with the kids so the schedule never gets jammed up. Briella has been really happy about having mom at school.

  

  
  
• I ordained a wedding. Not something I though I would ever say. Michael and Shirley set out to get married this year and wanted a friend to officiate. I was honored they asked me. Putting together a wedding ceremony was an interesting experience that I won't ever forget. I'm glad they made me a part of their special day. We get to do it again in front of a larger audience next year.

  

  
  
• Briella joined girl scouts. After all of our adventuring Briella wanted more adventure. The girl scouts was a natural fit. I'm excited to see where this new path leads her next year.