Ethan’s Journey

 Happy Birthday Paul! 50 years old today.  I made Paul quiche for breakfast. I wanted to make the day special for him. He opened his gifts. The thing he enjoyed most was his dad calling and singing Happy Birthday.  We went to a local bar in the evening. We had the party room, thanks to the help of a good friend. We went a little early and set up decorations, order pizzas for the guests etc.  Lots of great people came out to wish Paul a Happy Birthday and he absolutely loved it. He was talking about what a great night he had and all the great conversations he had. We appreciate all who came. I often think about my dad and how he never got to see the age of 50. It just reminds me to take the trips, do the things you want and don’t wait. You might not get the chance.

 I have no doubt that we all experienced the year 2023 differently. As the year comes to an end, I have been reflecting on how I felt the year went. For myself, I have to say that we had a pretty good year. One can argue that we lost Phineas and that is enough to make a terrible year. Yes, we lost Phineas. Yes it was terrible. We miss him everyday. He visits us in our dreams and I still hear him sometimes. I am not the only one. A few times I have heard the kids say “what was that noise? It sounded like Phineas.” There is a difference between unexpected loss and expected loss. Phineas was at the end of his life cycle. He lived a wonderful life and we were truly lucky our lives were spent together. We were also lucky that he was with us almost 14 years. I am glad he didn’t have a long, drawn out illness. He made the decision easy for us to choose what was kindest for him. Great dog until the end! But we had expected, at some point, he would expire. Heart breaking? Yes, but realistic. I

I had the day off today. Phew! That was wonderful. I used the first portion of the day to collect items around the house (declutter) for donation. Then Avery and I went to goodwill to drop it all off.  We did some thrifting while there and I found a few skirts for my trip to Turks and Caicos in March. Yay! We witnessed an interaction between this lady and the cashier. The cashier was a young man, likely in his teens or early twenties. He politely asked the woman if she would like her receipt. She replied in a snarky, condescending tone, which I found uncalled for. Lady: “why would I want my receipt? I can’t make a return! All sales are final. What good is a receipt?” Young man: with a quivering voice “for tax purposes?”  The lady scoffed and stomped away. Why? Why do people just insist on being cranky, pissy, and frankly just rude? She could have chosen a yes or no response. “No thank you.”  “Yes please.” Why did she have to get so snarky?   This is turning into a pseudo game I play th

 I received the most wonderful surprise in the mail today. Tiny hands for each one of my fingers. Why is this wonderful you ask? It is a mystery. It is so stupid and funny. It has shared a good laugh with me. I kind of love this game. I receive a fun and goofy item in the mail. Sometimes it is quite off color which is amazing too! Then have to guess who sent it to me. I love that someone took some time out of their day to look for something that would make me laugh. I imagine them sitting there wondering what I would say when opening it. The flip side of this game is fun too. I see something I think is funny. I send it randomly to someone and let them guess who sent it. I chuckle at the thought of their face while opening it. Sharing smiles. After work, I was motivated to downsize my collection of “stuff” Avery and I pulled up bins of stuff from the basement. I went through it and started making a pile for donations. The basement spilled into my kitchen cabinets and drawers. We are off

Today I had to work. Paul has the week off. He was mowing the lawn/ cleaning up leaves and doing man things that he finds enjoyable. None of us slept great last night (except Ethan). Avery and I ended up on the couch napping from about 4:30 - 7:00 am. It was so helpful to get the rest we needed AND it was like a mini slumber party. Our couch is so darn comfy, it pulls you in and pulls you to sleep. After work, we took my mom and Gene and met up with my Brother and his wife, Kristen, for dinner. We met at a brewery in Batavia. Paul and I have been there before and had great food and service. Tonight, the service was a little lacking. It didn’t spoil our evening. It just gave us something to talk about. I ordered a delicious tequila drink with candied cranberries, juice annd a fresh orange slice. I really enjoyed it.  We will forever refer to the evening as the night “we had that lazy waitress”. She was sweet, but we had to ask for plates, napkins, a table that didn’t wobble to the point

 🎄 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!🎄 Finally! We were all together this year! It only took 4 years, but we made it. Today we slept in. Once awake, Avery and I made our Christmas Quiche. I hid the kids scavenger hunt presents, filled up my cup of coffee and Paul and I watched the kids find their gifts. It makes it a little more fun now that they are adults. They had little things to open too! Rachel came over and brought some gifts. She is a wonderful artist and we have started collecting her artwork in various forms. She gifted me this super cool crocheted potted plant. It is amazing! I am just so proud of her and her talent. I am honored that she made this for me. It is so thoughtful. Rachel crocheted a winter hat for Jiminy! It was perfect! At one point, Paul came down stairs with his Christmas vest on…and that was all. What a goof! It made me laugh. We then had family over for a non- traditional meal of pulled pork and French fries. The pulled pork was done in the crockpot. Very easy. We also h

 Christmas Eve is always exciting for us! We go to Nana and Papa’s for dinner. The food is extravagant AND delicious. Since my gut is still healing, I had to refrain from eating too much. I avoided certain foods to maintain gut healing. Small price to pay to be actually home. Christmas is a happy and cheerful time for our family. For some people, they have experienced great loss this year! They are missing their loved one or are feeling down this time of year. Those are the people we should remember to reach out to. Grief can be so lonely. The world moves on but you can’t. I am thinking of you. I started the day out, seeing my dear friend from middle school! We see each other about once a year. We each had a coconut, rosemary, cranberry margarita with sugar around the rim. It was dubbed the White Christmas. I was not upset about ordering it. Yum! While in the parking lot, Avery and I saw a car pull up. A man got out with red pants on. He then put his red coat on with white trim. It was