Year in Review

This is late, but the holidays got a bit crazy. We hosted people, then we left town, and my computer broke. I'm hoping to start blogging more regularly again in 2018. In the meantime, here's a look back at 2017, since I wrote very little this year.

• What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?
• Can I say parenting? Technically Gavin was born in 2016, but he didn't really start turning into a human until 2017. He did everything from learn to roll over to start running around and climbing on things this year, and I learned how to constantly readjust my expectations, savor the moment, and carve out time for myself. There were so many firsts this year that I can't even count them all, but they almost all come back to Gavin.
• Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
• I don't remember what my new year's resolutions were last year. I'm not sure I made any. I think I was still in shock and doing my best to ignore the world at large. But over the year I slowly remembered who I was before I was a mother and re-integrated most of that back into myself. For this year, I'm planning to speak up more in the moment.
• Did anyone close to you give birth?
• A few Facebook friends from high school did, but no one in my immediate circle.
• Did anyone close to you die?
• My husband's grandmother
• What countries did you visit?
• Mexico, right at the end. Though we also made it to both Hawaii and Alaska, which kind of felt like different countries. America is vast and contains multitudes.
• What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?
• Someone to clean my house for me.
• What dates from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
• I should probably remember things like Gavin's first steps and all that. The truth is that all of his learning has been more of a process than a sudden thing, so it's occasionally hard to point to a definitive first. The eclipse was amazing. Gavin's first birthday was a lot of fun.
• What was your biggest achievement of the year?
• I got a promotion/raise at work. I did a decent job of balancing my life as a parent and the parts of my life that don't include Gavin.
• What was your biggest failure?
• I didn't always ask for help when I needed it.
• Did you suffer illness or injury?
• I was sick so many times I lost count. Damn those daycare germs. Mostly it was just colds of varying severity. There were two bad stomach bugs, though.
• What was the best thing you bought?
• The Switch and Zelda: Breath of the Wild were great, though Kevin definitely got more joy out of them than I did. We also got this fantastic beanbag chair that converts to a Queen mattress. Kevin remains skeptical, but I love it.
• Whose behavior merited celebration?
• Gavin. He's moody and mercurial and he can get crabby like any toddler. But he's mostly happy and loving and easy-going. 
• Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
• Trump, and pretty much all of the currently elected Republicans
• Where did most of your money go?
• The house. We spent a ton of money on new windows, but also the mortgage and various smaller repairs. 
• What did you get really, really, really excited about?
• Hallowiener. It was fun to come back to it after a year off. Also traveling to Hawaii in the depths of winter and Alaska during the summer helped balance the extremes of those seasons. 
• What song will always remind you of 2017?
• I will always be a bit bitter that Sia's "The Greatest" wasn't a bigger hit, because I think it would have been the perfect song for 2017. The truth is it's hard to know this until a few years have passed. But my hatred for Ed Sheeren really crystallized this year with his three singles that got played constantly, so maybe it'll be that?
• Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c ) richer or poorer?
• I am happier, thinner, and richer. So a win on all counts.
• What do you wish you’d done more of?
• I wish I'd found more time to ride my bike and write in this blog.
• What do you wish you’d done less of?
• Cleaning the damn house. It wasn't a big deal when I was only working 18 hours/week. But now that I'm back up to 30 it seems to be eating up all of my free time.
• How did you spend Christmas?
• We hosted Christmas with my mom and brother and Kevin's mom and sister. It was fairly low-key with lots of food and booze and very little sleep.
• Did you fall in love in 2017?
• I keep surprising myself by loving both Gavin and Kevin more with each passing day.
• What was your favorite TV program?
• One Day at a Time, which I mainlined last January. It made me laugh and cry and was basically a perfect sitcom. I cannot wait for the second season.
• Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
• Probably, though no one specific is springing to mind
• What was the best book you read?
• I'm not sure I can pick just one, so here's the top five instead
• Radiance by Catherynne M Valente
• Among Others by Jo Walton
• Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
• The Likeness by Tana French
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin
• What was your greatest musical discovery?
• Nothing new, but I started a Britney Spears Pandora station and have fallen in love with her more recent work, and also with Kesha and Rihanna. It's been a pretty solid station.
• What did you want and get?
• a flexible work schedule, time to read and travel and visit with friends and family, a ton of snuggles and kisses from Gavin
• What did you want and not get?
• Paid sick leave and paid holidays
• What was your favorite film of this year?
• I didn't see very many. Probably Thor: Ragnarok? It was a lot of fun.
• What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
• I turned 31. I don't remember what I did. Kevin and I probably went out to a nice dinner, because that's what we always do.
• What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
• My kid could always make me smile and laugh and forget about the world at large for a bit, no matter how bleak it got.
• How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?
• Comfort. Though I did manage to trade in the yoga pants for blue jeans eventually. And I even got back to heels, block not stiletto. But I'm a mom now, after all.
• What kept you sane?
• Finding time to read, giggling with my family
• Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
• I've been actively trying not to hero-worship any celebrities of late, and this year certainly proved the wisdom of that goal. 
• Who did you miss?
• We have a ton of friends that we don't see often enough, particularly the ones who don't live within driving distance.
• Who was the best new person you met?
• One of our neighbors up the street. He seems like a genuinely good and thoughtful and fun person, and I'd really like to get to know him better.
• Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017.
• Life keeps going and things change faster than you expect them to. All you can do is keep on keeping on.
• Quote a song lyric that sums up your year
• This phase is gonna fly by/So baby just hold on/It won't be like this for long