I wrote a post last year about some of my favorite moments and highlights of 2017. I want to do the same thing, except include a few struggles and challenges I had last year.

For those that have read my stuff over the years, know that I like to include the real life right along side of the shiny and lovely. Because life isn’t just highlights and I would be remiss to put out to the universe that my life is all highlights.

It’s not.

Just so we’re clear.

Vacation

I am the luckiest to be able to travel every once in a while with a pretty hot travel companion. Especially if we’re driving to the airport in our New England parkas and boots with a suitcase packed full of swimsuits and sunblock. That is my favorite. Goodbye frigid walkway. Hello drinking out of a coconut in your bikini. It gets me through a couple of tough cold months if I have this to look forward to and think about after it’s over. (Just over here dreaming of our next trip in t minus 6 weeks…)

Spencer’s Race

I wrote quite a bit about this mile race my Spencer ran last year. It was one of those things where I didn’t know it was going to be the moment it was until the moment was here. It was a special day I’ll never forget. I still reach back and think about it when I’m making decisions on his behalf. He can do hard things. He can be challenged. He’s bright and capable. It’s a good reminder that the people in his life need to constantly raise the bar for him. He can do it.

There is a world of story in this picture, moments after I crossed the finish line with Spencer. (Photo by Joe Wrinn)

Family Trips

Packing up 4 kids and 2 (sometimes 3 if we bring our nanny) adults is a little chaotic, a little stressful and a lotta nuts. But. Taking my kids to new places and seeing new things and introducing the to new people and experiences is definitely top of my list. We did some mountain time in New Hampshire with friends. We drove to New Jersey and experienced the one and only boardwalk in Atlantic City. Both trips packed with memories and smiles.

My Triplets Like Sports

I know this is a strange highlight. But I loooooved playing sports when I was a kid. I still remember playing shortstop when I was in 3rd grade and repeating that mantra in my head my dad taught me, knees bent, glove towards the ground, “I want the ball to come to me, I want the ball to come to me, I want the ball to come to me…” So when my son Christian said, after one of his first baseball games of the season, “Mom, I don’t want to play with toys anymore. I just like baseball now.” I knew he was trying to tell me in his 8 year old way that he loved the game as much I did. I watched my daughter streak across the soccer field, chasing down opponents like a tiny gazelle. She is so fast. And I’ve watched Gabe dribble a basketball behind his back, just like he watched Kyrie Irving do in that youTube video he’s watched dozens of times. It’s a joy to watch these kiddos love the game. Whatever game they play.

Blackburn
This was another event I already wrote about in another post. But man, this was a huge highlight for me. It had been a while since I put my mind, body and spirit through a challenge that I didn’t know I could do until I actually did it. It was brutal. It was beautiful. And to steal a word from one of my favorites, Glennon Doyle, it was brutiful. Every single arduous mile was rowed, in synch, with the most amazing group of women. Not only did I absorb all of their strength, tenacity and fierceness, I found out my own basement of grit and determination is a lot deeper than I knew. It was a great day.

This boat. This crew. This water. Best day.

Welcome Yuritzy

We’re at a place in our family, with Chris’ job and Spencer’s needs and the family schedule that we are lucky to be able to have an au pair join our family for the year. We loved our Laura that lived with us a few years ago and we had a hard time imagining how anyone else could take care and love our kids like she did. We reluctantly went through the selection process again and welcomed Yuri into our home in October. I’m grateful we took the leap and trusted the universe to give the right person at the right time. She is from Mexico and we have loved celebrating Dia de los Muertos with her and having a pinata at Christmas! We love the cultural exchanges that happens between us as well having an extra heart and hand help keep our family running smoothly. She became part of the family so seamlessly and has even had a sense of humor about this New England cold.

A Few Lowlights

I told you I was going to keep it real. So here it goes. It was a rough year medically for my Spencer. He had a seizure accompanied with a 106 degree fever in February that required an ambulance and rescue breaths. I don’t think I need to go into how hard that day was.

Then later, in the fall, he started having more seizures that weren’t associated with an illness or a fever, they just happened. The ambulance showed up at our house a few times. It was a good practical lesson in advocating for a boy that can’t advocate for himself. I won’t go into too much detail, but I will say this, don’t let other people second guess your gut and parental intuition for your own child or loved one. Just because they have a uniform or a badge or a stethoscope, they don’t always know what’s best. With that said however, I also want to give all kinds of kudos for the first responders, ER team, doctors and everyone else who has helped and healed him along the way. I’m grateful for my own heart and mind and I’m grateful for the help and kindness.

I have other regular old lowlights of life and moments of being a mom and wife and coach and writer, but I’ll just let you use your imagination about all those. Think about a rough day you had with your kids or husband or job and I’m just going to say, “Yeah. Same.”

But the highlights and joy and surprises and wonder of 2018 all outweigh any lasting effects of the doldrums of life. My heart swells a little more each year about our abundance of love, family, friends and goodness. It was a good year and my chin is up and ready for the magic and surprises of the year to come.