Katie & Scott & Simon & Cecily.
It’s 2019! We made it another year.
This year felt like progress and also felt like standing still and also like it lasted a decade. As a family, as a country, as a being in this moment in time. The last day before the holiday break, I went out to lunch with some childless co-workers, one of whom sincerely asked me: why have kids?
What a forking year that was. I’m usually pretty upbeat when the new year comes around, but I’ll be honest – 2017 really did knock the wind of us.
One of the first things we did this year was go to the Oakland Women’s March as a family, because this country felt broken. The truth, of course, if you listen, is that this country has always been broken – that it, in many ways, was built on a rotten foundation. But for us, amidst this swirl of resistance, the story of surviving this year to forge a better future was shattered when Katie’s dad passed away in March.
Welcome to 2017! It’s time to take stock. Look at all this stock. Let’s take it.
In 2016, aside from the celebrity deaths and political quagmire, what happened personally? (We’ll set aside for now how politics felt more personal this past year than they have in a long time.) Well, Cecily emerged from her super-shy stage and now will start talking your ear off if you come visit. Simon has taken to fancy clothing – we got him a button-up white shirt and suit jacket that he wears more often than not – and has started to have to deal with some real schoolin’ in first grade. Katie and I visited Chicago and Hawaii this year, along with driving up to Portland overnight one weekend. We celebrated 10 years of marriage. Katie jumped out a window. What a year.
It’s almost 2016. Cecily celebrated with a Netflix Care Bears countdown, Simon with a 30 second Force Awakens TV spot, and I with a 9 PM livestream from New York City. Now it’s time to sit in bed, watch Insurgent on HBO GO, and reflect on my triumphs and failures from the past year.
This was the year that Cecily started preschool, meaning there is a time when both of my kids are in the care of adults other than my wife, which is both fantastic and terrifying. This was the year that I listened to Hamilton and my world turned upside down. This was the year that Star Wars won the marketing and hype battle for everything. This was the year that was.
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