Wow, another year gone. I think it was a good one, although I have a hard time wrapping my head around it, especially as my distance from the year increases. It feels like the kids grew up all of a sudden. We’re now known as “mom” and “dad” rather than “momma” and “daddy”, and I’m okay with that. I’ve always liked the idea of having older kids.
Veronica became a teenager. She is still involved with piano, voice, flute, and Girl Scouts. Her tastes have been changing rapidly, which is especially noticeable in the music she listens to. We all became immersed in Taylor Swift’s media empire and listened to her music constantly, with the two ladies of the house being lucky enough to attend her Eras Tour concert in Minneapolis. Veronica did some performing herself, jumping deep into musical theater with involvement in the following productions:
- Frozen Jr. (in the role of Hans)
- A Tale of Two Jacks (lead role)
- Beetlejuice / The Addams Family (summer camp)
- Legally Blonde Jr. (two-week summer camp)
- Junie B. Jones Jr. (with a named role that involved performing a solo on tabletop)
- A Christmas Carol (working tech)
For spring break, we did Disney World to the max, going to all four parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and the Animal Kingdom) and staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The Guardians of the Galaxy ride was everybody's favorite.
Our other big trip was to the island of Wrangell, Alaska (with one day spent in Seattle on the way up). R’s aunt and uncle live there and put us up for the week. The view from their deck was absolutely amazing, and we had quite a few adventures, most notably seeing bears catch salmon, a day-long boat ride to a glacier, and a flight in a small plane. It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
We made it back to the Winnipeg Folk Festival in July for the first time since the pandemic and also spent some time in a cabin at Camp du Nord in northern Minnesota at the end of August.
Then there was my weekend in NYC with Veronica, which was an experience I hold dear. We packed a lot into a couple of days, but seeing V’s favorite musical Moulin Rouge on Broadway was an absolute highlight (along with briefly meeting the lead actor at the stage door). I also enjoyed seeing the Edward Hopper exhibit at The Whitney Museum, which seemed like such a cool New York thing to do.
R and I had a couple of mini getaways too: one night at The Four Seasons in Minneapolis and two in Grand Marais at a lovely AirBnB with a view of Lake Superior. We saw Aoife O’Donovan in concert one night and Hamilton on stage on another.
R’s start-up company, Vocxi Health, has been keeping her busy, but she is doing some fantastic work as one of the founders and key players in its success. She holds a similar role in our family, handling most of the planning that goes into all of these trips and activities I am listing. And she still finds time for book club and continuing to be a Girl Scouts troop leader. I am very impressed by how she keeps all these plates spinning.
My work has been stressing me out a bit. It was my first full year of being in charge of a software development team who look to me for their assignments and to review all of their code. I try not to let it take over my life. I completed two video projects over the year. One is a promo for an annual concert, and the other is this silly little Cottage Cheese sketch that had roots in a dream. I’m sort of between bigger creative projects right now and am still spending some time studying film and writing about it. I put a lot of time into recording my thoughts on everything I watch over on Letterboxd.
There was more to the year too: Valley Fair, trips up north, a night in Philadelphia, two Twins games, holidays, birthdays. I'm getting tired just thinking about it all. These are certainly busy times. I am sure I'll be bored again one day, so I'm trying to make the most of this hectic life while it's happening... taking lots of photos, making lots of memories.
