Happy New Year

It’s the last day of January 2019 and I started this post on the first day of January. I can still keep the title as long as I get it done by today.

The words and thoughts flow decidedly easier whilst on vacation. It’s hard to stay inspired in the humdrum here. But that’s in my power to change, so I can’t complain about it.

New Year’s Eve in Alaska is all about the fireworks displays. In July, it’s still light enough that they aren’t as spectacular. Although I was in Seward for the Fourth of July several years back and it was dark enough to enjoy the fireworks but light enough to still see your surroundings. Pretty cool.

Jennifer and I took the kids a few blocks away to a park we had visited earlier in the week. They had a display geared towards families with children and the fireworks started at 8 pm. By then, it had been dark for four hours so it seemed fitting. We, along with many other families, played on the snowy playground for about a half hour while we waited for the show to start. We secured out seat on the swings and then cheered and oooohhed and aaaaahhhed and shouted, Happy New Year! for the next half hour. It was pretty awesome.

The next day I met up with some teacher friends of mine who I hadn’t seen in a really long time. They have three children, the youngest of which is the same age as Iris. We went bowling on New Year’s Day! It was so much fun! Four adults and seven children. Yeah, it was awesome. Anyone who knows my athletic ability knows that there is none, so at one point iris had a better score than me. She had bumpers though so, yeah, we’ll just say it was the bumpers.

I didn’t realize how much I missed my friends and it did my soul good to laugh and reminisce and tell stories with my pals. Through the conversation, I’ve reconsidered teaching again. We’ll see.

Alas, the next day I had to say goodbye to the sweet babies. Sad. We’ve been back in Missouri for a month already but it seems much longer. Even though we’ve had a couple of snowfalls, the temperature is now in the fifties and the tulips and daffodils are an inch out of the ground already. I have the grow light on, starting some perennial flowers before tomatoes and peppers. Growing things make me happy.