Wait ... what? It's 2015 already? How did that happen. It feels like I was just here typing a post about the start of 2014. Why did the year go by so fast. Unbelievable.
Well, I don't make New Year's resolutions but I do want to make it a point to work on my mental health this year. I hadn't been feeling well most of December and I've had some anxiety issues. I've experienced some pretty bad chest pains. My emotional issues were becoming physical and that's not good. I've been feeling okay lately but I know how I had felt last month was a definite wake up call. It's time to put some issues aside and focus on forgiveness. Forgiving myself. Forgiving others.
Yes, 2015 is going to be about forgiveness. It's something I've struggled with but I need to work on it. I've been holding a lot in and it's killing me ... well, at least it felt like it was killing me. So onward we go into this new year with some major mental changes.
Now let's rewind to the past year. It was mainly low key but we did have some challenges as well as some good times. I wanted to break this up month by month but that will take a long time for me so I'm just going to jumble it all up as best as I can.
We experienced some snow in the first few months. Lots of snow. The kids had so much fun.
We took a trip to Hagerstown, MD and visited our favorite park there.
In March my husband had hip replacement surgery and then returned in April to have the other hip done. That was the most challenging for us but we made it through. He learned to walk again with the help of physical therapy and aside from muscle soreness he seems to be doing quite well.
Because we are season pass holders we were able to visit the nearby amusement park several times. We also enjoyed quite a few minor league baseball games. Both my husband and son enjoyed a few monster truck shows too. That seems to be their thing.
We took a trip to Hershey and visited Chocolate World. That's always fun (and free).
My son finished kindergarten and then started first grade in the fall. He seems to be doing very well academically but needs a little help with spelling and handwriting. He can read like a pro and is advanced in math. Last month he celebrated his 7th birthday. In the spring he played teeball and in the fall he joined cub scouts for the first time. He seems to enjoy it and my husband became one of the leader's. It wasn't something he planned to do but they were desperate for extra leaders. Oh and he also lost his first tooth, finally. He also enjoyed his first year of Vacation Bible School during a week in the summer.
Brianna moved from a crib to a big girl bed. I'm also happy to say she is potty trained. We're still working on the night time training but during the day she does well. She turned 3 during the summer.
The kids participated and completed the library's Summer Reading Club. They read all the minutes required and did some of the activities.
My dad had shoulder and hand surgery so I had to stay at his house and help take care of my mom for a few days. The kids were with me. That was another challenge that I'm glad is over.
In the spring we celebrated 12 years of marriage and in the summer we were able to go on a date all thanks to friends of ours who babysat while we enjoyed dinner at a nice restaurant. Since having kids going out on dates where it's just the two of us rarely happens. Dates happen for us once in a blue moon.
I redid the front flower bed and we completed the back deck renovation. We also started the kitchen renovation. It's almost complete. My husband and father in law opened up a wall and then added a buffet window to the other wall. It looks so much better.
We had to say goodbye to our favorite neighbors across the street since they sold their house and moved to another town. We see them from time to time but it's not the same.
As for me, I started training to be a bus driver. I'm still in the process of training. I have to take 4 written tests. I already passed 1 but have 3 more to do and there are more hours of training I need to complete. It seems to be taking forever because I just don't have a lot of free time to train. Which is why I'm thinking of putting the whole idea of becoming a bus driver on hold until my daughter starts school. That way I'll have a lot of time to train. I really wanted the job NOW but it just doesn't seem possible.
I also reconnected with an old friend. It had been over a decade since I had seen her. She had just lost interest in being my friend, it seemed. I had been hurt. Really hurt. I had also been confused. Her husband got in contact with me a few weeks ago and said he wanted us to see if we could make the friendship work again. This all came out of nowhere and at first I was hesitant but I decided to walk by faith and see where this would lead. I didn't run to her with arms wide open and I definitely have my guard up but since this opportunity presented itself the way it did I decided why not give it a try and see what happens. People grow up and change, right? I was willing to give it a shot. So far, so good I guess. I'm not sure what the future has in store for us as far as the friendship goes but it's going to take a lot of time and ... forgiveness. Yes, there goes that forgiveness thing again. I'll start with her.
So that's it, I guess. At least it's what I can remember right now.
Here's hoping 2015 is a good one.
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