Saturday, January 10, 2009

Moving On...

I can't stop thinking about last year, in total. Not about knitting, but about our experiences as a family. Both of my kids had their adenoids and tonsils out after some serious sleep apnea issues. We took our first family vacation to another country. We had our house on the market for much of the year. We took it off the market. Ups and downs, my friends. Ups and downs.

The very last day of the year could have been worse, but it wasn't that great. I had bought some ice-melt/rock-salt (whatever-you-call-it) and had somehow made the ridiculous decision to open the bag with a garden weeder. One that looks like this. And anyway, let's just say I really did almost prove Ralphie's mom right. Thankfully I had my glasses on.
My scratched glasses
It's a little difficult to see the scratch in this photo because of the focus, but it's there.
And it's deep.


So I found myself at one of the local eyeglass chain stores with the rest of the people who waited until the very end of the year to spend the money they've put away in their Flexible Healthcare Accounts (aka, everyone in the city). But after three hours, I ended up with these:

New glasses

And so far, so good. I can't say how happy I am that January seems to be moving along at a nice clip. Our reward for having such stunning summers here is that basically January and February get to the brink of unbearably cold. Next week? Temps of -15, without windchill.

I'm trying to focus on the right things, like how much progress our son has made in the short time he has been in elementary school. Here is a poem he wrote on Friday:

Poem
And no, his name isn't "Mike".

This year I want to get back something I seem to have lost. I have lost my go-with-the-flow, happy-go-lucky qualities. I used to have that, I really did. Ask my friend Trista. I want to get that back. Desperately. Anyone know where that went?

New glasses

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE your glasses. I wear contacts and have glasses that I love but I never wear them during the day. This post inspires me to wear them more often! Your son's poem is too cute!

Anonymous said...

I love that poem, very sweet! I think the happy-go-lucky, go-with-the-flow mentality goes out the door when kids come in! Let me know if you find yours, I've been looking for mine as well, maybe they are hiding together!?!

Eliza said...

can you find some sort of meditation or yoga or something to help let go of the stress and welcome back the carefree attitude?

The glasses look great, and your son's poem is wonderful!

Michelle, Queen Behind the Lens! said...

You have kids. That's where it went! Ha. Great post. :) That second glasses pic is great.

Anonymous said...

Your new glasses are very cute! Happy New Year to you!

Trista Hill said...

Okay, no one asked me, but I will respond that 1) your happy self never left, and 2) your serious self was around even then. They co-exist.

Remember what were epic tragedies then? The size of our ears and foreheads, the notes written without a response, who looked / spoke / sat with us and who did not, the clothes that matched or didn't, the grades we made. We were not smiley happy go lucky people then. We were agonizing the same way but in a much smaller setting.

Now we know death, birth, tragedy, triumph, defeat, success, loss, huge gain, disease, ultimate health, what sex is and isn't and what it means to be female. We know anger, joy, fear, and release at much deeper levels. We know love. Our spectrum /world is bigger, wider, higher, broader. So our downs may be lower and our ups may be higher.

You never ever lost it. Your joy is what we all love and treasure about you. It is such an intrinsic part of you that it can never be misplaced, forgotten, or diminished. Just uncovered. Love you.