2023 in review

Goodness, I hope we aren’t too far into the new year for a good old fashioned year end recap... I don’t think that I have done a yearly review in several years. And in many ways, 2023 was a year that is definitely not necessary to review as I wrote about probably every single item that I will highlight here in this post. I think I did a pretty good job of writing about the mundane as well as the big events as they occurred throughout the year. A review seems a bit unnecessary or redundant at the very least. But, it was a big year with several milestones. So, I decided to do a review.

January- This month is generally a low key one activity wise and a cold one weather wise which results in lots of hunkering down and staying in. My personality/ interests were made for such times as these! I enjoyed the slow pace of January after the hustle and bustle of December. By the end of the month, it’s nice to have an event. Alyssa, thankfully, provides us with such an event every year by having a birthday at the end of it! She turned seventeen- 2023 would be the last year of having a non adult child. 

February- We celebrated Alyssa’s birthday with family in early February which was fun. Alyssa was worried about prom dress selection diminishing so as soon as we found out Dillard’s had its new prom dresses in stock, Alyssa and I went shopping. Alyssa and I also hit up a local running store, Runners Plus, annual sale and scored some great deals. I hadn’t been to the sale in years; it was fun to introduce Alyssa to it and to of course, save money. I went snow tubing with the middle school youth group which was also a lot of fun.

March- We celebrated Uncle Doug’s birthday at the house with a cake, cookie cake and a meal (didn’t take pictures of the meal so I don’t know what we ate!

April- This is the month that the year really started to take off activity wise: In the beginning of the month, Alyssa and I headed to the Sunshine State. We found ourselves in Clearwater Beach (by dint of finding the cheapest airfare of any airport near to us in Ohio to any airport in Florida. Alyssa’s goal was the beach; mine was getting us there cheaply!!). We had a great time- the beach was beautiful but oh so crowded. Alyssa loved the energy/ vibe of so many people on the beach. Me, not so much but I was glad that we got away, nonetheless. Donnie had to stay behind to work unfortunately. 

We came back and it was Easter! We enjoyed celebrating Easter together as a family- the kids in college were able to come home for the weekend. 

Alyssa started her first job in April. It had the potential to be pretty high paying- it paid minimum wage plus tipping was involved so she was excited about making money and likely well more than minimum wage. After her first shift, Alyssa reported that she liked the job. Since starting the job, she has never complained about not wanting to go to work or not liking her job. She is very fortunate that her first job has (she still has it) been a very positive experience for her- good pay, she likes her co-workers and bosses, her bosses like her, etc.

In mid April, something absolutely crazy happened: I turned fifty- 50! Whaaaat?? I have never felt so loved... or old! I had a wonderful time celebrating; people made some pretty far drives to celebrate with me which made me feel very loved. While the physical and mental manifestations of getting older are not pleasant, experiencing the result of years long relationships is incredibly satisfying. (It almost makes those lines, sagging jowls and thinning hair worth it. Almost!!)

In late April, Jacob graduated from the University of Cincinnati- so proud of him!!

I believe it was in April, we found out that the summer trip to France that Abby was preparing to go on was canceled. She was going to be in France for six weeks, based in Dijon, in the south of France but would get to travel for Paris for a weekend, take classes all in French, and would earn eight credit hours towards her French minor. 

May- Speaking of French, in early May, I was able to attend a departmental awards ceremony at Miami (of Ohio) where Abby goes to school. I know I bragged wrote about this in a post but Abby receiving a French departmental award wasn’t exciting solely due to the fact that she received it. The school year that she received it marked the first time since her junior year of high school that she’d taken French. For her to not have taken any French for two school years (her senior year of high school and her first year of college) and then jumping back to it and excelling in it was the icing on the cake.

We celebrated Mother’s Day with a meal out and a hike.

Alyssa had a great time at prom, enjoyed the last day of her junior year and left for Lake Norris, TN with one of her friends the same day.

Donnie and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. Some people take trips to celebrate an anniversary- we eat Mexican food. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right?

I made preparations for Abby and me to stay for a month in New Jersey where Abby had an internship at a film production company. Donnie helped to secure the internship; he does legal work for the company. That consisted of finding a place to stay (a basement of a house) and packing for our month long adventure!

June- Abby and I drove out to New Jersey which would be our home base for the month. It was an... interesting experience for both of us! I loved being near historical places and exploring them. We also went to a concert, explored iconic places like New York City, and my sister came from Canada to visit us there. All in all, a good experience though an odd one. Being away from other family members for so long was not ideal.  

Alyssa spent a week with Avery at a family members place on Kiawah Island, SC.

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July- We enjoyed some mostly local fun- meeting Jacob in West Chester for Top Golf, the Barbie movie, a Dayton Dragon’s game (and a recreation of photos taken with Avery when the girls went years ago), and a festival with friends.

Towards the end of the month, I made my annual trip to western Illinois to see my brother John. 

 

August-  this month had some fun in store but also ushered in lots of change as well. Jacob moved from his college rental house to a brand new apartment. We went to Columbus for the girls to see a Morgan Wallen concert. The girls painted Alyssa’s senior parking spot. We moved Abby into an apartment in her college town for her junior year of college and Alyssa started her senior year of high school. We had Alyssa’s senior pictures taken. And, we celebrated D birthdays- Donnie,  Denise and Don. Lastly, I made a quick trip to Indiana to meet my niece Mary Gracia and see other family who came to IN to see meet her.

September- Labor Day weekend was spent with friends and going to Kings Island amusement park.

I traveled to Canada to see my sister to celebrate her birthday there. We had a great time as usual. 

October- Someone turned 21 and someone picked lots of tomatoes from the garden. Alyssa had her last homecoming dance and we enjoyed a short but pictorially adorable trip to our town’s pumpkin patch. Donnie became “almost famous” when his name appeared on the big screen in the movie Butcher’s Crossing. He has another movie producer client so this may not be a one and done!

November- A pretty quiet month! No one traveled (except for Donnie who had a one night business trip). We celebrated Christmas in Springboro the weekend before Thanksgiving and then had to remind ourselves that it was Thanksgiving not Christmas upcoming. We all got to see Jacob get baptized! We hosted Thanksgiving and also celebrated November birthdays with family and friends.

December- The first weekend was a busy one as we went to a Christmas concert in downtown Cincy and then I made another short trip to Illinois to see my brother John. After that, things didn’t get really busy until close to Christmas when we celebrated Jacob’s birthday, then Christmas Eve, then Christmas, then hosting family on my side. 

Overall, it was a pretty great year. It held plenty of challenges, frustrations, disappointments and non blog worthy moments. Yet God’s faithfulness was evident throughout. 2024 will see us (Lord willing) celebrate 25 years of marriage; Alyssa will make a decision about college, graduate high school, and start college; Abby will arrive home from France and begin her senior year of college, and Donnie will have a big birthday.