Whoever “they” are say most New Year’s Resolutions fall away after the second week in February. I’m beating that average.
One of my vaguer goals for 2021 was to write more on the blog. I’d decided to half-ass it even more than normal by posting bulleted lists with a couple of pictures. After all, the intent behind the blog is to provide evidence to my future self and kids that we did some stuff. This was my attempt to lower the bar basically to the ground. As a master listed, I figured this shouldn’t be too hard.
Well. I’m at exactly zero posts for January.
And that’s fine. Sort of.
These posts aren’t due to anyone else- which is precisely the problem. I deliver on anything with someone else expecting it on the other end. This is not that. So many of my ideas get stowed in a black hole of a bucket called “maybe someday.”
I rationalize not writing by reciting my wishful thinking that I should be able to write as fast as I can type (I would have crushed in the secretarial pool.) Because writing feels slow, it also feels indulgent- an emotion that’s hard to add to the pile of other stuff I already feel guilty about.
So here I am on a quiet, snowy morning. All the “have to dos” are pretty much done so, here I go restarting my resolution to write bullet-y, picture-y posts on the blog.
And what exactly did January 2021 look like ‘round here? I’ll say upfront that this is just the easy, light kid stuff. Streaming through the minds of all the adults involved were the politics and attacks on the Capitol, a hope-filled inauguration, and the ongoing mess of school reopening (or not, as is the case.)
We started with a big barn bang. We took a family horseback riding lesson at @TalbotRun in Mount Airy. It’s one a handful of activities that everyone enjoys equally. We left chatty, laughing, and smelling like horseshit. Joy, joy, joy.
We ate well. One of my goals for the year is to get the kids cooking more and expanding their tastes beyond syrup and anything in nugget form. My sister and her husband gave us a gift certificate to a super fancy restaurant in DC with this gorgeous winterized outdoor patio. The food was just amazing. Linc had a Sprite. Meanwhile, we sampled all the major meal delivery services- Home Chef, Blue Apron, and Hello Fresh. All were great. We have one more to try before deciding if we’ll keep this going.
Brian and I continued our training programs for the 50K trail ultra in March. Running and thinking about running now occupies the few brain cells leftover after kids, work, and what’s for dinner. Last week, I did my first marathon-distance training run—which just surprised me for reasons I might write down at some point. The key takeaway is that it feels good to do something you never thought you could or would—even if your legs feel like concrete pilings afterwards.
We celebrated Marin’s 10th birthday on January 24th. We were so fortunate to have use of a good friend’s spacious and comfy ski house at Deep Creek. Conditions were great. Like horseback riding, everyone loves skiing. This eliminates the need for Brian or me to cajole or bribe them into participating- so it’s more fun for all. The girls skied their first black diamond. Baya is an exceptional and fearless skier. What makes it (secretly) fun for us is seeing how much she enjoys being better than her siblings in this one sport.
And lastly- the hair ordeal of 2021. After several days of hot tubbing and hot shotting around the slopes, Baya developed a knot that felt (no kidding) like a dead squirrel attached to her head. It started below her right ear curved around her neck. After a lot of trying and tears, we took her to the Hair Cuttery. They were AMAZING- so patient and kind. What started as a job for one woman, turned into 3. They worked and worked on her for about an hour and finally were able to comb and cut most of it out. We all resolved to really, really this time be good about brushing and braiding each day. I see another trip back for a serious trim in our near future.
Anyway, that’s all for now. I hope to see me back here some time before 4th of July!