2012! / 2011 Recap

I am ending 2011 with my erase board calendar stuck in September, 359 unread emails in my inbox and owing $2.55 to the library (total fines paid this year: $23.15). Nevertheless, I will skip ahead and join the rest of the world in 2012 and enjoy the chance to start afresh...but let's review 2011 first, and save me a lot of singular back posts (or inspire some):

Ben - Sometime in spring the husband formerly known as Ben became "Divorced Dad", named so because, he lived in his own apartment, provided mostly only financial support and made up for his lack of presence by being super fun, taking the kids for treats and buying them things outside of our norm. And when staying at his place, had things like ice cream topped with cereal for breakfast (may I suggest carmel pecan with honey bunches of oats...)

In July and probably the highlight of his year, he shook Eddie Vedder's hand at a concert in Seattle.

Avery - Started 2nd grade, continued learning violin.

Miles - Learned how to swim and ride a bike.

Cruz - Learned how to walk and speak.

(Britt - One up's Ben's Eddie Vedder encounter and attends a wedding where Magic Johnson is a guest...as well as Kenny G.)

Me and/or us - It was a good year for work and for play - It's a buyers market (thank you historically low interest rates (3.75%+/-), so I had a fun year negotiating and brokering home sales. I also had a chance to reprise my days as a "business analyst" (not necessarily the right term but it was my job title, "indentured servant" may be more appropriate) for my first employer out of college, when they brought a Chinese delegation through Los Angeles.

For fun we hit up Belize in March, Chicago in April, Lake Chelan in July and San Francisco in September. And the kids and I took up residence in California from late October to early December (We also started the year there in January). From there we hit the central coast, beaches in every coastal county in So. Cal, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. You just aren't living until they freeze your credit card for being in too many places in too short of a time. And you are grateful when they freeze your credit card when someone uses it in Brooklyn then Norway and you are nowhere near either of those places.

So that about sums up the year, looking back on it no wonder why it zipped by. We never took a moment to catch our breath. Just how we like it.

What are my wishes and hopes and dreams for the new year? (Besides fewer parking, speeding or red light camera tickets...please please please (make that 6 pleases) Last year was about not looking too far into the future, so as not to enjoy the here and now. It's easy to yearn for days of not changing diapers or making school lunches but when those days are gone they are gone, and furthermore the future will be filled with unseen/unpondered challenges of it's own I am certain. So this year I will build on that live in the present philosophy with another that spoke to me through a banner at the YMCA. It was one marked RESPONSIBILITY and referred to the verse in Ecclesiastes about whatever it is that you find to do, you do it with all your might.

Although I'm a bit worried that this will hinder my multi-tasking abilities, I do think that it will be efficient and rewarding. And it goes hand in hand with the only real resolution I made this year, which is to be a better cook. I like to cook; I like the creativity involved and of course I enjoy the end result. Unfortunately however, the last few years I have let Trader Joe's and Costco a lot of cooking for me. I appreciate that we have sophisticated convenience foods, but I need to hone some basic techniques and learn how to make a sauce for goodness sake. Other ways I will employ this idea - better workouts at the gym, more thorough teeth brushing, and being a more attentive parent - anywhere that I presently spend time out of necessity or desire may I improve my performance. That is my wish for 2012. Let the fun begin.