Even though the majority of my writing is now located elsewhere, I haven't forgotten this relic of my past.
Since 2009 I have written on this blog, and since 2010, I have ended the year with a post looking back on the events that have happened in the last 12 months.
This blog will likely continue to be mostly neglected, with the majority of my writing going to my new platform (see below) but I don't want to let it completely disappear, if only as a tie to life back in 2009 when blogs were just beginning.
In my jar was much less this year.
There were no races, as I spent the year working out at my favorite small gym, without any extra motivation needed to continue to attend besides the financial commitment. But I was consistent with my three times a week workout, except for the health issues that came up throughout the year.
The jar had our invitation to my cousin's wedding, as well as tickets to a fun Hamilton sing along I did with a good friend. There is the ticket to the Pet Expo, as well as a ticket to the Orange County Fair.
The only other physical evidence of the events of the year was some documentation of our first family road trip to San Jose early in the year for Remington's travel hockey team.
These small physical relics of the year miss most of the most significant events of 2019, which was back up to 2013 levels of unexpected turns.
First, February was a tumultuous month of sickness in our house with one after the other of us falling victim to the flu, complete with long duration of fevers, and a double bad flu for Remington and I with his turning into pneumonia, and mine turning into bronchitis, with a painful cough that lingered for weeks.
Then we had relative calm until May, when out of the blue, I had intense joint pain in multiple joints throughout my body. After several tests it was determined that I had an autoimmune condition, most likely Lupus.
As this is a chronic condition, I will be dealing with some level of symptoms of this for most of my life, and you can read more about my reactions and processing of this below too.
Then in June, we had a double whammy of stressful situations with our family. My brother started divorce proceedings, and the beginning of that was very unstable and caused a lot of anxiety for everyone involved. It is still ongoing, but will hopefully be fully resolved by the end of 2020.
Also in June, Blake's brother and sister in law had a scare when she unexpectedly went into labor at 6 months, which is obviously bad. The decision was to put her on 10 weeks of bed rest to give their baby the best chance of staying put, which eventually became inverted bed rest, and she wasn't even allowed to leave the bed for bathroom trips.
We decided to invite them to live with us when that happened, so that I, who wasn't working during the summer, could watch both of my kids and her two year old so that she could be able to follow doctor's orders.
So, from the start of July until the middle of September, our house was wild with 7 people living in it, but it truly was a great time of bonding for the family, and we are so happy to have helped in such a stressful time. She made it to 8 months before she went into labor again, and had their baby, my nephew in September, who thankfully only had to stay in NICU for a few days before getting to be home with his family, and he is doing great now.
The end of the year has been a bit smoother, with me starting a new job at an elementary school as an instructional assistant, but I am able to get off in time to get the kids from school, help with homework and get them to their many various activities.
Currently, Remington is playing both club roller hockey and recreation ice hockey. His club season is going great so far, with two first place 6u wins and one second place.
He is also doing martial arts and soccer (and yes, there is a sport every day of the week).
Grace is still doing parkour and tumbling, and loving both. She is up to a green rank (third level) in tumbling, which means they are starting to teach her how to do flips and back flips.
She is also doing soccer, and it sounds like she wants to continue soccer going forward as well as her parkour.
So overall life is full, and happy.
My writing at the end of 2019
As I mentioned above, my free time is mostly spent writing these days, having revived my earlier excitement for it on a much more lively platform, where I can see what people are reading, read comments, comment on others' writings and basically feel more a part of a community when I write.
I publish often over there, and am likely to continue, so you can join Medium and read everything I post, or I will try to do one of these sum ups when I can, and give you friend links, where you can read each article without being a paid member of the platform.
Part of the reason I am sharing all these with you is because they give you a deeper look at what my family has gone through this year, like my experience with my diagnosis, or what it was like having more people live with our family.
For the sake of time, these will not be aesthetically appealing, sorry.
Top ones about the year:
https://medium.com/the-ascent/when-life-throws-roadblocks-in-the-way-of-your-goals-495318bde35?source=friends_link&sk=7b4437f467810b0bd39b155e2a7ca083'
https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-become-a-i-volunteer-as-tribute-person-and-overcome-the-bystander-affect-3870021ec2?source=friends_link&sk=1278406e3f4a85171a25fb3d2bac2acb
https://medium.com/our-slices-of-life/6-stages-of-processing-my-chronic-illness-to-eventual-acceptance-68272a4a71?source=friends_link&sk=d44926aa46a4253b93af3dd9b9601820
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School
https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/what-one-thing-could-decrease-anxiety-and-improve-reading-at-your-childs-school-1de713db113c?source=friends_link&sk=e37ae7c71f361e07c92ccc8f052da0f1
https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/the-best-gift-to-give-teachers-this-year-912d20dd623?source=friends_link&sk=5263e2138092350bd738b5010be91ab8
https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/why-teaching-history-is-important-3a4c52c9908d?source=friends_link&sk=c43c8612b19de7cc94e932053626e247
https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/its-time-to-ditch-the-archaic-idea-of-age-based-grade-levels-7f0494efddb4?source=friends_link&sk=29df10cfafcad3ede2dda75d10430a62
https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/to-promote-growth-mindset-in-schools-we-need-less-quantity-and-more-quality-assignments-6d20add9fd6c?source=friends_link&sk=af69fca0106017f9e2824e655c9e815c
https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/family-style-meals-could-reduce-school-lunch-waste-948f53012d5?source=friends_link&sk=f640a76a74fea3ceed91ce51efe14be3
Fitness
https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/how-to-keep-motivation-going-by-placing-a-bet-5c630faf30a0?source=friends_link&sk=c001052b8a3cf7d119047e09e12a1621
https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/how-to-conquer-a-gym-workout-4269a288a078?source=friends_link&sk=42e26a8db4b65458970f73f7c1436abb
Poem
https://psiloveyou.xyz/decades-of-baked-bread-88a9109f042a?source=friends_link&sk=728bb2041423ce63bf681023435883bd
Parenting
https://medium.com/@lisaolsen_36549/with-some-kids-holidays-arent-just-cheerful-and-bright-a8da77cef8b3?source=friends_link&sk=0f8afc3b53de1685e8504fafb2adda43
https://medium.com/our-slices-of-life/how-kids-can-make-you-a-late-person-65b5ce4377bd?source=friends_link&sk=6c0d0afe7f94b2cb09426d7f68138764
https://medium.com/our-slices-of-life/how-a-lost-tooth-changed-the-holidays-for-our-family-forever-6575cb1b784b?source=friends_link&sk=7d17020614ff560b5e03d0fc9104cc75
https://psiloveyou.xyz/vision-versus-reality-im-not-the-parent-i-wanted-to-be-2d8a4d883247?source=friends_link&sk=9573fcf6ac5479c1db55f65d904f021b
https://medium.com/our-slices-of-life/choose-to-live-the-life-less-recorded-8e520246e18?source=friends_link&sk=6790da27473bd19eb500bcf1e1c07f1c
https://psiloveyou.xyz/did-you-put-on-your-dragonscale-armor-what-i-teach-my-kids-about-bullies-80803d4cc689?source=friends_link&sk=9a3f9ac67f8c863d8e1090200498948b
Fiction
https://psiloveyou.xyz/the-last-morning-12ad1506f975?source=friends_link&sk=e402d81f55014ff89fee1ca1c5db1e70
https://psiloveyou.xyz/waiting-for-a-ring-fbae6144c7f8?source=friends_link&sk=cce65ec047ededd9469d2feba268b12b
https://psiloveyou.xyz/fast-food-in-space-a-mother-and-son-adventure-c63bd483cb1c?source=friends_link&sk=cf47113b904656a83a202ccada4befa4
Random
https://medium.com/@lisaolsen_36549/trump-is-impeached-news-from-both-sides-of-the-track-6852e82d4d16?source=friends_link&sk=2fc1ad25caf9a2bbc24b4633fda1d7df
https://medium.com/@lisaolsen_36549/the-response-missing-from-the-grandma-for-christmas-craiglist-ad-story-50e53c55ea57?source=friends_link&sk=b6d65965b06cd5f014fca89d6bb2b5a0
https://medium.com/our-slices-of-life/what-your-infertile-friends-arent-telling-you-a5bd7d67c31a?source=friends_link&sk=60a8955322815f10a0d526d932678b23
https://medium.com/the-haven/all-clothes-shopping-is-not-created-equal-69cf9ada0cde?source=friends_link&sk=3192da6278a33ce41cc6066a4335055c
https://medium.com/swlh/the-power-of-the-written-word-f981f031e231?source=friends_link&sk=e392ccd3b09797ff02ac3de5516e38a1
https://medium.com/@lisaolsen_36549/a-surprisingly-simple-way-to-reduce-performance-anxiety-47e6ae5e5f7d?source=friends_link&sk=8ce3095608bf2130dece1d013faa2216
https://psiloveyou.xyz/my-relationship-with-rain-11d654ed3e4e?source=friends_link&sk=788e83b6a175c367b34a4d37ccb977c7
https://medium.com/@lisaolsen_36549/when-should-a-baby-use-a-spoon-d0d21591e2ec?source=friends_link&sk=fc94025e328ecab2bdc6574ed8fcddfd
https://medium.com/our-slices-of-life/how-i-went-from-failing-at-pasta-roni-to-hosting-thanksgiving-e3f1ff9be1bc?source=friends_link&sk=03031309f627e64f870bf5bec6d0c947
https://medium.com/@lisaolsen_36549/the-endangered-art-of-pick-up-sports-and-how-to-keep-them-from-becoming-extinct-333305da9bd7?source=friends_link&sk=17f28bec638e58344509ce0fc8d6b583
https://medium.com/swlh/the-best-thing-you-can-do-with-a-rare-condition-ac6a08aabc85?source=friends_link&sk=1a33b29efecb2bdb9c01c266a86017d9
Sigh, that was a lot of tedious work... and I didn't even put them all in by the end. But that is most of what I have written in the last few months, and likely going forward, I will just pick a few favorites to share friend links (aka ways to read them for free).
This year has definitely had its ups and downs, but overall, I think we grew stronger as a family because of the valleys, and appreciated the mountain's calm moments more.
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