I can’t help myself: the year-end brings on a lot of reflection for me. And the last gasps of 2016 have been no exception. Josh and I had ~24 hours sans kids and work from Tuesday AM to Wednesday AM, and spent much of it pondering the future. We did some practical stuff (financial organizing, basic adulting tasks) but also a lot of daydreaming about what we love and what we wish were different.
It felt really good to just brainstorm all of our thoughts about everything from where we live to our jobs to the basic rhythms of our week. We revisited big topics (yeah, including that 3rd kid one again) and small (example: our family’s evening routine, or lack thereof). It felt useful, and sort of oddly empowering to admit out loud what is working and what I’d love to see change. And yet it did not lead to any obvious answers.
I think that one clear truth is that there is no ONE right way. There are probably many configurations in which our family would be happy. So many variables to adjust and moving parts, and everything impacts everything else. But it was still nice to get all of our thoughts out into the open.
In other news, today has been my first fever-free day since Christmas when I got hit with some sort of viral nastiness (suspect possibly flu because it was terrible*). At least the kids already had theirs so hopefully when this clears we’re done for the short term. I am going to stand up right now and admit to a total FAIL on my goal to really clean up my eating this month. Bah! But I sort of feel like everything in life just has felt a bit off since early December, and so I’m not going to be so hard on myself.
(I still don’t feel like doing Whole30 though.)
This is sort of a downer post, but I’m actually feeling really peaceful and upbeat right now. I’m off with the kids (just me) for today & tomorrow, and then Josh is off (well, on backup call but mostly off) Saturday – Monday. During my illness/time away from kids I managed to:
– prep my 2017 bullet-style Hobonichi companion
– create & order fam cards
– create & order fam calendars
– read Crazy Rich Asians (OMGGGG such a fluffy yet deliciously addicting read) in 3 days
– sleep 34938 hours
– make this lamb stew from Christopher Kimball’s new mag Milk Street (gotta say I was sold on the gorgeous layout and typography of this magazine alone)
Happy New Year, although I’m planning on returning before then – I want to post my favorites lists of 2016 for posterity 🙂
* Yes, we all got the flu vaccine this year
6 Comments
How cool that y’all got some time away to discuss, plan, and dream together. I so wish Brandon was wired this way, but he totally is not. 🙂 I would LOVE to do something similar!
Crazy Rich Asians was so, so good. The second wasn’t bad either.
I think the planning is so key. We are homeward bound tomorrow and have 4 days before work starts again so hoping to do some forward thinking. 10 weeks pregnant so everything feels slightly topsy turvy at the moment – trying not to get overly invested pre ultrasound (week 13) but trying to balance all the pieces at the moment – PhD completion, baby, new job for husband,
So nice to read about someone else who gets joy out of setting up planners! Any chance you’d want to post about your bullet-style companion notebook?
I love the idea of doing an end-of-year brainstorm with the spouse to see what direction everyone wants to go. It’s so easy not to have these conversations, and so important to do so. Also, I love the new look of the blog! Very crisp!
Awesome sharing really likes your working and happy new year.
Yup nice point….