A Year in Review
Since next year is the end of the world, I thought I might take some time to revisit this past, last year.
It was a hot/cold year for us. Overall, I would have to say a good year- we're all here at the end, gainfully employed in careers we love, kids are doing well. If you dissect it, piece by piece, it looks bad on paper.
The first six months sucked at my work. I could not, for the life of me, find someone who would show up on time and work. I am not a micro-manager. People always say they hate when they are micromanaged, however, I have learned that some people never grow up and need constant monitoring. I am not willing to do it. Next, please. In June, I finally found someone fantastic. This made for the first six months basically being a blur and the next 5 months playing catch up. Not a terrific year if you look at "the numbers." But again, on the flip side, I really enjoyed the year. I spent more time doing what I loved at the office, streamlined a lot of systems and am very excited about 2012, Armageddon be damned.
My husband had a miserable summer. His first summer without having to take classes in 10 years and it was filled with my reduction surgery, lice (did I mention in the blog that we had a few run-in's with lice this summer? If we didn't call for playdates, now you know why), broken bones, sick kids.... not great. But he loves the classes he teaches, he had some fantastic students, and he works with some wonderful colleagues. And some not so wonderful colleagues.
And the broken bones. My poor daughter broke both bones in her lower leg on our first day of vacation. She spent a month in a wheelchair, another few weeks in a walking cast. Then for one entire week we were good to go. Then my son broke his arm. It truly slowed us down. We used to swim every night in the summer. Nope. We used to bike ride every weekend. Nope. It's been hard to get back off the couch. The second my back started feeling better and I was good to go, the broken bones started.
But again, everything happens for a reason. We were probably a bit overscheduled. Between soccer and swimming and dance lessons, there was very little time to hang out. Because we couldn't do any of it, we had a lot of good family time together. Even better, everyone healed and their bones are truly even stronger than before.
Our summer vacation sorta sucked, but our spring break trip was flawless (except for my issue with the towels-- the hotel ran out of towels- really?). Shane and I both lost some weight, gained some back, lost a little more and are ending the year a little lighter. And so the year went.
So if I truly had to sum up, it was a perfectly balanced year. A little good, a little bad. Nothing fantastic, nothing horrific. After the last few years, balanced and even a little boring is okay by me.
I don't know what 2012 holds- perhaps Armageddon, perhaps great fortune, perhaps something life changing or perhaps more of the same.
While I'm not a resolution setter, I am an optimist. A new year is like crack for me-- it's the present under the tree Christmas Eve. The anticipation of what's in the package is often better than the actual gift.
So when the ball drops, or in Vegas when the fireworks go off, I'll be ripping the paper off the new year- anxious to see where it leads and completely content if I simply circle back to where I am today.
It was a hot/cold year for us. Overall, I would have to say a good year- we're all here at the end, gainfully employed in careers we love, kids are doing well. If you dissect it, piece by piece, it looks bad on paper.
The first six months sucked at my work. I could not, for the life of me, find someone who would show up on time and work. I am not a micro-manager. People always say they hate when they are micromanaged, however, I have learned that some people never grow up and need constant monitoring. I am not willing to do it. Next, please. In June, I finally found someone fantastic. This made for the first six months basically being a blur and the next 5 months playing catch up. Not a terrific year if you look at "the numbers." But again, on the flip side, I really enjoyed the year. I spent more time doing what I loved at the office, streamlined a lot of systems and am very excited about 2012, Armageddon be damned.
My husband had a miserable summer. His first summer without having to take classes in 10 years and it was filled with my reduction surgery, lice (did I mention in the blog that we had a few run-in's with lice this summer? If we didn't call for playdates, now you know why), broken bones, sick kids.... not great. But he loves the classes he teaches, he had some fantastic students, and he works with some wonderful colleagues. And some not so wonderful colleagues.
And the broken bones. My poor daughter broke both bones in her lower leg on our first day of vacation. She spent a month in a wheelchair, another few weeks in a walking cast. Then for one entire week we were good to go. Then my son broke his arm. It truly slowed us down. We used to swim every night in the summer. Nope. We used to bike ride every weekend. Nope. It's been hard to get back off the couch. The second my back started feeling better and I was good to go, the broken bones started.
But again, everything happens for a reason. We were probably a bit overscheduled. Between soccer and swimming and dance lessons, there was very little time to hang out. Because we couldn't do any of it, we had a lot of good family time together. Even better, everyone healed and their bones are truly even stronger than before.
Our summer vacation sorta sucked, but our spring break trip was flawless (except for my issue with the towels-- the hotel ran out of towels- really?). Shane and I both lost some weight, gained some back, lost a little more and are ending the year a little lighter. And so the year went.
So if I truly had to sum up, it was a perfectly balanced year. A little good, a little bad. Nothing fantastic, nothing horrific. After the last few years, balanced and even a little boring is okay by me.
I don't know what 2012 holds- perhaps Armageddon, perhaps great fortune, perhaps something life changing or perhaps more of the same.
While I'm not a resolution setter, I am an optimist. A new year is like crack for me-- it's the present under the tree Christmas Eve. The anticipation of what's in the package is often better than the actual gift.
So when the ball drops, or in Vegas when the fireworks go off, I'll be ripping the paper off the new year- anxious to see where it leads and completely content if I simply circle back to where I am today.
Comments
I look forward to 2012's updates. I can't imagine what you will say this year. But we will need some comedic relief. The stress of this election that is still 10 months away, that is going to get nasty,...no, VERY NASTY! Oh my. The Mayan calendar is going to cause many people to freak out as well.
We will need to laugh more than ever, keep writing Lori!
Robert Harmon