Oh my gosh, what a year we have had, where should I start?! Of course it must be said what a treasure the time spent at our vacation home in the Maldives has been…what with the crazy schedule we have had to keep up with, school at home and rolling out of bed mere minutes before the Zoom class is about to start, my goodness we have had some close calls maintaining our perfect attendance! And all the canceled soccer practices and games has had us dragging our feet with exhaustion. Alex is a trouper though, putting on her uniform every weekend to watch TV, I am so proud of her dedication and boundless energy to keep pushing through the pain of those endless commercials.
Reese is in her final months of high school, with graduation looming in the Spring, she is excitedly planning the year end celebrations. So fun! Grads next June will sit inside and watch re-runs of their favorite You Tube videos and Tik Tok contributions. Though we were pressed to find any time between all our bread baking and gardening, thankfully we had the second isolation to sew her the most gorgeous grad dress made from recycled non-medical masks and empty toilet paper rolls which looks ah-may-zing on the hanger in the closet. “Can’t wait to put it on and walk in the yard”, says Reese!
My oldest returned home from university to a big fanfare of couch surfing and wrestling his Gramma for his room back. We weren’t sure how the cards would fall, but they came to an agreement of some kind and Gramma moved out… and he has also been surprisingly well funded lately.
Don’t worry, Gramma is fine in her recently re-modelled condo (you’re welcome), unpacking and promptly recycling years of carefully collected and maintained curios. “Great to have this latest shut down to get to the task at hand”, Mom gushes.
As for me, I have been run off my feet with ‘make work’ projects all year but I successfully watched all the Mandalorian season two episodes and completed Stranger Things for the fifth time. I wasn’t sure it was possible, but I did manage to squeeze in another two new Netflix series to my already hectic viewing commitments.
We have completed 24 – 1500 piece puzzles and are on track to finish the last (that’s 524th) recipe in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in less than six months! Plus, I have finally read the entire unabridged copy of War and Peace so like, stay tuned for my riveting (if I do say so myself) comparative essay to follow!
Friends, we are blessed to have this truly special time to spend together and really feel the bonds of incarceration. I know I am not alone in marking this singular feeling of imprisonment lovingly shared by all my wonderful children.
I am hopeful you are all experiencing this same bliss as I shouldn’t be the only one to suffer this wealth of familial intimacy alone.
To all of you, thank you for all the business and referrals. I have had a satisfying year despite everything and being able to help some of you find a place to cocoon, set down roots and create some comfort during these surreal times has benefitted me immensely. Thank you!
Have a magical holiday dammit! and a happy M** F** New Year! (sorry, I am just so overcome by the boundless joy of all this family interaction)
Be merry, be drunk…behave!