Becky's POV-Year's End

I sat down to post a new entry into our family blog last night, spurred by a friend's casual remark that we had "not kept up on it", an assessment which I could in no way rebut with any reasonable argument. So, I began systematically tippity tapping my way through each member of the family, giving a single paragraph summary of the events of 2007, as they pertained to the individual in question. As I scrolled back up to the top of my efforts, I read through this family update, and slowly found my mind wandering, and were it not for a decent dosage of caffeine in my system, I am sure my head would have slowly drooped until my nose was endlessly typing a string of whatever letter it landed on when my blog entry had finally lulled me to sleep. Something was obviously wrong here. These people in my writing were my children and husband...one would think I could manage to write something about them with a small measure of, well, anything! Passion, color, warmth...even frustration would have been more engaging to read than the laundry list I had created. So, with a "select all" and a quick stroke of "delete", I returned to square one. So, here I go again, with an attempt to reflect upon our past year that is worth the trouble to read.

For many years now, Scott has subtly encouraged me to put together a "Christmas Letter" to send with our Christmas cards, since we have so many friends in the four corners of the country who don't hear from us regularly. I have always been resistant to the idea, mainly because of the situation I was describing above. Every time I try to draft one of these letters, it always turns out to be this bland, flour and water flavored march through how old our kids are, where we live, why we moved (again), sprinkled with an occasional cliche of holiday wishes to the readers. Some people manage to write absolutely charming Christmas Letters that make you feel like you are sitting on their couch, watching the flames crackle in their fireplace while you sip hot cocoa. I haven't been able to replicate that, and don't think my personality lends itself particularly well to that brand of letter, but I'm taking another stab at things, and we'll see what I end up with. There's always that delete button!

So, on with the details. I am increasingly aware of how time seems to accelerate as we age, and as I watch my 3 boys grow and change into what seems like completely different human beings every three months or so. Homeschooling Riley has given me a close up view of this phenomenon, as I have my fingers wrapped up in every aspect of his daily living. As you can imagine, this offers many opportunities for fascinating triumphs as well as tear-your-hair-out frustration for both of us, but in the end, I can see the homeschooling lifestyle bearing fruit that I would not trade for any amount of free time. Once these years of having young children fly by, I am sure I will have plenty of time to catch up on whatever exploits strike me. Riley has no limit to his desire to soak up and order information in his little seven year old brain, and may very well be the only 7 year old boy in a 30 mile radius who can't bear to skip his handwriting practice! Overall, he is doing a great job with everything, from Latin, to ancient history, to math and all that comes in between.

If ever I can find a fountain of extra energy, I will be filling up gallon jugs there in order to keep up with Gabriel. He has made it no secret that he has a plan for how the life of a three year old should progress, and if an obstacle stands in his path, he will try with unstoppable determination to clear it away. I am certain his intensity and tenacity will serve him very well in the future, but for now, Scott and I are faced with the challenge of harnessing it, which has proven to be very much like the "breaking" scene in the animated movie "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron". Fortunately, he has also been dubbed "So stinkin' cute" by many who see him in one of his boisterously enthusiastic moods, so we are able to appreciate the sweet side of his personality as well, when he decides it is time to display it.

And then, on the opposite side of the sibling coin, you will find little Benjamin. For all of Gabriel's intensity, Benjamin offers an equal measure of smiling malleability. He has proven over this past year to truly have a talent for going with the flow. He has been a consistently healthy baby, barring a scare we had when he was two weeks old, where he was hospitalized for an enigmatic fever. I pray I never have to survive any child of mine receiving a spinal tap ever again! (Though he was a little less than patient with that process than normal, as he eventually made a messy disaster of the doctor's work area, as only a little baby knows how! At least the procedure ruled out meningitis.) In the interest of brevity, I will tell you that after four days of hospitalization and more tests that I can count, he turned out to have a urinary tract infection, which required an unnervingly strong dose of antibiotics to knock out. But, with all that behind us, he has grown over these past 10 months to be a joy and a blessing.

Of course, Scott has been faced with the challenge of wearing a myriad of different hats this past year. If I may venture a guess at his favorite, that would be the "Dad" hat, and with three little boys running around, he has his hands continually full in that aspect. I can't help but laugh to myself each day that the front door opens, and Riley and Gabriel shout "Dad!" and fly to bowl him over in the doorway. Even Benjamin gasps a noisy inhale and crawls as fast as his little hands and knees can go to join into the greeting. As a mom, I am resigned to the fact that there are some games Scott was meant to play with the boys that I will never understand. They always look like torture to me, but yet those little squealing boys endlessly come back for more.

Aside from rough housing and acting like a lunatic with the kids, Scott also had a chance to flex his performer muscles this past fall, participating in a local production of a Rodgers and Hammerstein revue "A Grand Night for Singing", which was obviously great fun for him. There is always a sparkle in a person's eye that you can see when they are doing something they love. Despite the stress of the rehearsal schedules in a show season, I am always confident of Scott's priorities as our family goes, so occasionally saying yes to his taking on a performer's schedule is okay with me. (But for all our sanity's sake, I do mean occasionally!) He will also have a chance to perform with some of the members of that cast for a holiday event here in Pottstown during December, as well as in a cabaret night.

Scott's professional life, though undeniably busy, has been going well, as he has continued in his work with Right Management over the past year. Working in support of the sales team there has added plenty of valuable skills to his "tool kit".

As for me, I guess you have been getting a piecemeal picture of my life as I have unfolded the doings of the others in my family. Outside of the exploits that intertwine me with the others, I have been endeavoring to make a little artwork here and there. My current projects consist of relief sculpted wall plaques for children's rooms, though we are still feeling out the right venue in which to sell these. Their creation is too time consuming to price them as an inexpensive craft item that someone might buy on a whim, but they are too "cute" to fit the fine art mold, so this will obviously take some massaging to get right. But as is typical for me, I tend to assume there is something dreadfully wrong with what I have made, rather than being able to be even keel about things and make subtle adjustments to encourage better sales and "bottom line". It is certainly an area for artistic growth for me, and working in a new medium has been interesting, despite whether the pieces generate income.

Well, if you have made it this far into my characteristically long post, I thank you for sticking with me! I hope all of our friends and family experience the joy and peace that should be the center of the Christmas season. We all send our love, and would, as always, be glad to hear any news from your families. God Bless!