and what a year it has been. 2010 started off with a bang as we celebrated sully's first birthday and the birth of my nephew, brooks - all in the same weekend! february brought the first "real" snow charleston has seen in 10 years which worked to sabotage the night of a much anticipated valentine's date with my husband. with february also came the decision to build a house and the start of a grueling construction process. the next few months were filled with sully's first steps, planning and more planning for mine and john's summer wedding, design decisions for the house, mom's long awaited retirement, the visit of two special friends and their little boy in april, 3 bridal showers, the return of a friend who had been living in france for 8 years, a revelation that my love for photography should be invested in, resulting in the purchase of a bad-mama-jama camera (thanks john!), and a hiatus from blogging for about 3 months (sorry, sorry). then summer arrived and on june 5th, the stress of all that wedding planning proved its worth as john and i made this thing official and said "i do" at a charming old barn in the pasture land of fort mill, south carolina with 180 of our closest friends and family. it was bliss. i'm embarassed to say, though, that i only just visited the social security office today to legally become mrs. courtney ackerman greider. oops! less than one month after our nuptuals, construction on the house was done-zo and we closed. falling in line on the very last day that we could qualify for the $8,000 tax credit - that john just mailed out this morning. i know.... what is wrong with us? at the crack of dawn on july 17th, movers showed up at the little apartment that was sully's first home and hauled all of our belongings out to summerville in the sweet neighborhood where everyone waves and sunny days seem just a little bit sunnier. trying to fill a house over double the size of what we had before was no easy (or cheap) task. in fact, it was pretty exhausting, but in the past few months we have turned that empty dream house into a home. there might be worse things to complain about than having too much space. ;) july breezed into august which breezed into september where i celebrated my 29th birthday. i find myself sometimes pushing against the days that lead me into the year that i turn thirty. i like 29. just old enough to be considered mature, but not too old to still act young. you know? september also brought the fantastic news that my bf, carissa, was pregnant. which, of course, gave me the baby itch. but we won't tell john. shhhhhh! and in october, the birth of another nephew jackson (to john's sister) made that itch even stronger. and no, i won't be ending this post by saying that i'm pregnant. in the future, yes. or hopefully. but for now, just hopefully. later that same month gamecock fans across the state went berzerk as we watched our team beat the number 1 team in the country, alabama. a victorious season for a team that's long overdue. coming off of that victory, was yet another victory - i found a new daycare for sully. it was one of the best decisions i have made, to date and he couldn't be more content. but with the sweet, comes the sour. days before thanksgiving my sister was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. as i type she is at her second chemo treatment with her newly bald head. the big "c" may have brought on its share of undesirables but they are no match for her humorous and heroic attitude. holidays in our family have been filled with just as much laughter and joy as all those past. and maybe a few extra bald heads in show of support. the christmas season came and went with a new collection of absurd and hilarious stories to add to the pot. and today i prepare as three boys - my two stepsons and 18 year old brother-in-law - will be coming to visit and celebrate the new year this weekend. i call it "the landing of the hurricanes." but there could be no better way to end a year full of such change and new beginnings than to celebrate with the ones i love. i pray for peace for the families of those who have passed on in 2010 and send light and love to the lives that came in 2010 and are soon to come in 2011. i send warm wishes to those who don't have the luxury of being with their families this season. and raise a glass of bubbly to 2011 and all that it shall bring. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Showing posts with label mem'ries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mem'ries. Show all posts
12.30.2010
10.19.2010
is it wrong...
to laugh at your own blog post? My wonderful sister-in-law is, right at this very moment, in labor in Atlanta. Filled with anticipation to hear that my new little nephew Jackson has made his arrival, I started reminiscing on Sully's birth. So I re-read my own "birth story" that I blogged last year. I laughed out loud (and maybe cried a little). A re-post felt completely necessary, so here goes...
http://simplysoulshine.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-sully.html
http://simplysoulshine.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-sully.html
9.21.2009
hugo
It seems like just yesterday, although today marks 20 years. But still, I remember it so vividly. It was a Thursday. I know because I always had gymnastics on Thursdays. My Mom picked me up and when we got home, I recall her saying (to my Dad): Ray, I went to the grocery store and all the milk and bread was gone. I saw people boarding up their windows. This storm isn't coming for us. Why are people panicking?
It was only a few short hours later that I woke to a loud rumbling in the attic just above my bedroom (boxes, moving around). Scared and a little confused about all the talk of this guy they called "Hugo", I crept into my parent's bedroom. 5 minutes later, we were all three in the downstairs bedroom - trying to sleep but waiting. The rain and the wind picked up and I heard it. The train. You know, the train they always talk about. When a hurricane is coming. It's true. I clearly remember that sound and laying in the bed with my parents in that tiny downstairs bedroom. I was terrified.
Somehow we slept through most of the madness and rose the next morning to find a true mess. Granted, it wasn't the disaster experienced in my new hometown of Charleston, but, at our house in Lancaster, trees were toppled (5, I think), one giant tree-trunk lay slain across our front porch, debris was scattered, power was out... we lived on a dead end street, the entrance was completely blocked by a grand-daddy sized oak. My poor swingset had been massacred - my biggest concern.
As a child, it was almost like an adventure - no escape from our street, dinner by candlelight for over a week, no school, and lots of talk and wild stories. Now as an adult, I realize the severity and how lucky we were to escape with so little damage. Three tall pines nestled right in beside our sunroom windows, and they were all down that morning. Had the wind blown in any other direction, our house would have been traumatically beaten. But they fell away.
It's a day I will never forget as long as I live. And almost impossible to believe that it was 20 years ago.
It was only a few short hours later that I woke to a loud rumbling in the attic just above my bedroom (boxes, moving around). Scared and a little confused about all the talk of this guy they called "Hugo", I crept into my parent's bedroom. 5 minutes later, we were all three in the downstairs bedroom - trying to sleep but waiting. The rain and the wind picked up and I heard it. The train. You know, the train they always talk about. When a hurricane is coming. It's true. I clearly remember that sound and laying in the bed with my parents in that tiny downstairs bedroom. I was terrified.
Somehow we slept through most of the madness and rose the next morning to find a true mess. Granted, it wasn't the disaster experienced in my new hometown of Charleston, but, at our house in Lancaster, trees were toppled (5, I think), one giant tree-trunk lay slain across our front porch, debris was scattered, power was out... we lived on a dead end street, the entrance was completely blocked by a grand-daddy sized oak. My poor swingset had been massacred - my biggest concern.
As a child, it was almost like an adventure - no escape from our street, dinner by candlelight for over a week, no school, and lots of talk and wild stories. Now as an adult, I realize the severity and how lucky we were to escape with so little damage. Three tall pines nestled right in beside our sunroom windows, and they were all down that morning. Had the wind blown in any other direction, our house would have been traumatically beaten. But they fell away.
It's a day I will never forget as long as I live. And almost impossible to believe that it was 20 years ago.
9.17.2009
blogging for boredom
these last few days at work have been so slow. and when i say slow i mean maaaaybe 5 phone calls in one day, zero closings, zero projects for me to immerse myself in, and the sound of the air conditioner buzzing in my ear all day long. slow! so to kill some time, here i am, blogging. blogging about who knows what. stuff. instead of spring cleaning, i am fall cleaning... my mind. (i'm excited, so I sit up proper-like in my chair and brush my hair back)
speaking of hair, i got a new cut. the evening before our flight took off to dc (2 weeks ago) i dragged john to my fabulous hairstylist, trayce, back home for some much needed hair therapy. john was looking like a shaggy mess, my split ends had split ends and to let you know how bad it was, trayce winced when i pulled my ponytail down and said "ooh, this is pre-tty bad court". she's never said that to me - not in the 13 years since i started going to her. 13 years is quite an accomplishment, p.s.! that's longer than most marriages last. maybe i should send her a "thanks for keeping the hair on my head all these years" card. so anyway, she's asking me what i want to do with my moptop and i say "i don't care". so she looks to john and john says, "how does your hair look short". fabulous! so short i got. 3 inches shorter to be exact - right up to my chin-line and i love it. i felt new and improved. it's amazing how a haircut, even just a trim, can do that for you. then john hopped in the chair for his first "professional" hair cut. he goes to sportclips and thinks he's getting a good cut. ha! i wanted him to see what a real stylist could do. and do, she did. it was his best cut yet. we left there feeling like a million bucks and ready for our adventure.
but before our adventure, we did a little birthday celebration - for me! at that point, my birthday was still 2 weeks away but we celebrated early - we're rebels like that. so we joined my family at a local wing-joint, leo's (legendary raw fries!), and grubbed. then we ventured back to my parent's house for singing, cake, presents, and the funniest damn joke i've ever heard in my life. my uncle, big gavin, who is notorious for his ability to draw a laugh, tells this "potato chip" joke and the whole room was dying from laughter. just crying. i don't even know how he told it with a straight face. he's been telling this joke for 25 years. 25 years! let's be real, people. a joke has to be pretty good to hang around for 25 years. so if you know big gavin, the next time you see him, you have to make him tell it.
4 am the next morning came pretty quickly, and john and i hit the road towards the charlotte airport, leaving sweet baby and the doggie with my parents.
at 9am we landed in baltimore to see the beautiful face of my bff, her hubby, and their little boy. we had 3 full days to enjoy their company, see their new home situated nicely in a suburb of dc, sight-see, party, and exhaust ourselves. we walked, what felt like, the entire length of the city, saw some amazing sites, went on an eventful all-day (should have been 2 hour) tubing trip with them and another couple (that day could be a whole blog in itself), ate some scrumptious sushi and to-die-for fried mashed potato and blue cheese balls, drank beer, and just chilled. some time away was much-needed for me and john and we couldn't have spent our time and money in a better place!
tuesday morning came and i was ready to see my little boy. so we hopped another plane and headed back. it was so good to see him and hold him. all i wanted to do was snuggle with him for a month and stare at his sweet smile. only, there wasn't much snuggle time like i had anticipated. wednesday morning woke to find me sick. sick as a dog. actually, i've never understood the expression "sick as a dog", but whatever. i was sick. like an idiot, i went online to discover that i had all the symptoms of the swine flu. needless to say i spent the better part of the day freaking out that i was infected, everyone i had encountered was infected, what was i going to do, poor little sully and all the babies in his daycare - ahhhhhhhh. but the doctor did a nose-swab and said all of my hysteria was for nothing because it wasn't swine flu. it wasn't even the regular flu. it was an upper respiratory infection. silly me! she gave me 2 days off of work (god bless her) and home i went. i already blogged about this so i'll stop with that.
so i worked 1 day in a span of 2 weeks - pretty awesome.
i spent this past weekend recovering from my non-swine flu and from a heartbreaking loss with the usc game and come monday, it was my birthday. still a 20-something. i wasn't feeling completely up to snuff yet, so when john asked what i wanted to do that night, i was confident in saying "stay in". he and sully surprised me with a birthday cake, lit with 20-something ( :) ) candles
and a fabulous homemade spaghetti dinner. after sully dozed off, john and i rented the new kate & leo flick, revolutionary road, and vegged out. i even got a shoulder and foot rub. it was perfect. there's nothing like a birthday to make you feel loved. dozens of excited people calling to serenade you and cards expressing their love. it's the besssssssst!
now things are winding down a bit and i'm looking forward to a weekend with nothing planned besides a possible trip to the mall. it's supposed to be a rainy one this weekend and there's nothing like staying in, in your jammies and all-day movie marathons on those dark messy days. and snuggling with a little sweet pea.
speaking of hair, i got a new cut. the evening before our flight took off to dc (2 weeks ago) i dragged john to my fabulous hairstylist, trayce, back home for some much needed hair therapy. john was looking like a shaggy mess, my split ends had split ends and to let you know how bad it was, trayce winced when i pulled my ponytail down and said "ooh, this is pre-tty bad court". she's never said that to me - not in the 13 years since i started going to her. 13 years is quite an accomplishment, p.s.! that's longer than most marriages last. maybe i should send her a "thanks for keeping the hair on my head all these years" card. so anyway, she's asking me what i want to do with my moptop and i say "i don't care". so she looks to john and john says, "how does your hair look short". fabulous! so short i got. 3 inches shorter to be exact - right up to my chin-line and i love it. i felt new and improved. it's amazing how a haircut, even just a trim, can do that for you. then john hopped in the chair for his first "professional" hair cut. he goes to sportclips and thinks he's getting a good cut. ha! i wanted him to see what a real stylist could do. and do, she did. it was his best cut yet. we left there feeling like a million bucks and ready for our adventure.
but before our adventure, we did a little birthday celebration - for me! at that point, my birthday was still 2 weeks away but we celebrated early - we're rebels like that. so we joined my family at a local wing-joint, leo's (legendary raw fries!), and grubbed. then we ventured back to my parent's house for singing, cake, presents, and the funniest damn joke i've ever heard in my life. my uncle, big gavin, who is notorious for his ability to draw a laugh, tells this "potato chip" joke and the whole room was dying from laughter. just crying. i don't even know how he told it with a straight face. he's been telling this joke for 25 years. 25 years! let's be real, people. a joke has to be pretty good to hang around for 25 years. so if you know big gavin, the next time you see him, you have to make him tell it.
4 am the next morning came pretty quickly, and john and i hit the road towards the charlotte airport, leaving sweet baby and the doggie with my parents.
at 9am we landed in baltimore to see the beautiful face of my bff, her hubby, and their little boy. we had 3 full days to enjoy their company, see their new home situated nicely in a suburb of dc, sight-see, party, and exhaust ourselves. we walked, what felt like, the entire length of the city, saw some amazing sites, went on an eventful all-day (should have been 2 hour) tubing trip with them and another couple (that day could be a whole blog in itself), ate some scrumptious sushi and to-die-for fried mashed potato and blue cheese balls, drank beer, and just chilled. some time away was much-needed for me and john and we couldn't have spent our time and money in a better place!
tuesday morning came and i was ready to see my little boy. so we hopped another plane and headed back. it was so good to see him and hold him. all i wanted to do was snuggle with him for a month and stare at his sweet smile. only, there wasn't much snuggle time like i had anticipated. wednesday morning woke to find me sick. sick as a dog. actually, i've never understood the expression "sick as a dog", but whatever. i was sick. like an idiot, i went online to discover that i had all the symptoms of the swine flu. needless to say i spent the better part of the day freaking out that i was infected, everyone i had encountered was infected, what was i going to do, poor little sully and all the babies in his daycare - ahhhhhhhh. but the doctor did a nose-swab and said all of my hysteria was for nothing because it wasn't swine flu. it wasn't even the regular flu. it was an upper respiratory infection. silly me! she gave me 2 days off of work (god bless her) and home i went. i already blogged about this so i'll stop with that.
so i worked 1 day in a span of 2 weeks - pretty awesome.
i spent this past weekend recovering from my non-swine flu and from a heartbreaking loss with the usc game and come monday, it was my birthday. still a 20-something. i wasn't feeling completely up to snuff yet, so when john asked what i wanted to do that night, i was confident in saying "stay in". he and sully surprised me with a birthday cake, lit with 20-something ( :) ) candles
and a fabulous homemade spaghetti dinner. after sully dozed off, john and i rented the new kate & leo flick, revolutionary road, and vegged out. i even got a shoulder and foot rub. it was perfect. there's nothing like a birthday to make you feel loved. dozens of excited people calling to serenade you and cards expressing their love. it's the besssssssst!now things are winding down a bit and i'm looking forward to a weekend with nothing planned besides a possible trip to the mall. it's supposed to be a rainy one this weekend and there's nothing like staying in, in your jammies and all-day movie marathons on those dark messy days. and snuggling with a little sweet pea.
6.04.2009
time marches on
Cari D, my bff since Mrs. Cauthen's 10th grade history class, remininded me yesterday that today, June 4th, marks 10 years since we walked the stage at our high school graduation. I can hardly believe it. In the past day I have been flooded with memories of cafeteria gossip, hanging out in the parking lot before the morning bell, painting the rock, and our most important high school objective - figuring out how to make the cute boys notice us. I have to be honest Soulshine, it's made me a little nostalgic. I've also been completely wrapped up in the typical questions "where am I going" & "where have I been". I mean did I honestly believe that after 10 years I would be highly successful with tons of money in my bank account and a Lexus in the driveway? Okay, so maybe I did but unfortunately that hasn't happened yet (I don't even have a driveway to park a Lexus in). So, feeling a little inadequate, I decided to make a list of my accomplishments since that fateful day to see exactly how far i've come. Here goes (not in chronological order), I:
● became a mommy on the day that Sully was born - January 30th, 2009 (the goal I hoped to achieve above all others)
● am engaged to marry a wonderful man in the Spring of 2010 (we did things the untraditional way)
● uprooted from the home I had known my whole life and ventured to Charleston, SC, making it my new home
● graduated from Charleston Southern University with an emphasis in Communications
● took a job as the Office Manager of HMY Yacht Sales and have been successfully employed with them for 3 years now
● became an aunt
● purchased my very own car in 2007 (I marked that as "the day I became a real woman")
● have successfully trained & raised my dog, a Boxer named Tucker, going on 7 years now
● learned how to strum the guitar
● am a Notary Public
● got to talk on the radio and work in the sound booth as the Intern for 95SX (a local Top 40's radio station)
● raised over $20,000 that went towards the building fund for the College of Charleston library
● volunteered in the Children's Hospital at MUSC
● traveled to Jamaica, NYC, Mexico, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, DC, & Chicago (I consider travels an accomplishment)
● learned that you can't take the ones you love for granted when one of my dear friends was killed in a bicycling accident
● learned how to cook like my mama - not to toot my own horn but I think i'm pretty darn good
I'm sure I could add some other accomplishments to this list if I gave enough thought, but I think this is enough to suffice for now. I guess all that's left to do is figure out my goal for the next 10 years. Hopefully this time I can make it a little more realistic - although owning a mansion on the beach is looking pretty good right about now. :)
● became a mommy on the day that Sully was born - January 30th, 2009 (the goal I hoped to achieve above all others)
● am engaged to marry a wonderful man in the Spring of 2010 (we did things the untraditional way)
● uprooted from the home I had known my whole life and ventured to Charleston, SC, making it my new home
● graduated from Charleston Southern University with an emphasis in Communications
● took a job as the Office Manager of HMY Yacht Sales and have been successfully employed with them for 3 years now
● became an aunt
● purchased my very own car in 2007 (I marked that as "the day I became a real woman")
● have successfully trained & raised my dog, a Boxer named Tucker, going on 7 years now
● learned how to strum the guitar
● am a Notary Public
● got to talk on the radio and work in the sound booth as the Intern for 95SX (a local Top 40's radio station)
● raised over $20,000 that went towards the building fund for the College of Charleston library
● volunteered in the Children's Hospital at MUSC
● traveled to Jamaica, NYC, Mexico, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, DC, & Chicago (I consider travels an accomplishment)
● learned that you can't take the ones you love for granted when one of my dear friends was killed in a bicycling accident
● learned how to cook like my mama - not to toot my own horn but I think i'm pretty darn good
I'm sure I could add some other accomplishments to this list if I gave enough thought, but I think this is enough to suffice for now. I guess all that's left to do is figure out my goal for the next 10 years. Hopefully this time I can make it a little more realistic - although owning a mansion on the beach is looking pretty good right about now. :)
5.22.2009
To all of my friends:
I want to apologize to you.
I know that "being a mommy" is a poor defense for the amount of neglect you have been receiving, but it's the best and most honest excuse I have to give. It's amazing that I have had time to juggle all of these amazing friendships throughout the years but one little baby comes along and is more time-consuming than the whole lot of you. I work during the day, which has been surprisingly busy. When I get home in the evening, I bust my chops to get bottles washed, dinner cooked, tomorrows bottles made, baby fed, baby washed, baby loved, honey loved and just when 9 o'clock baby bedtime rolls around and I think i'm done, oops, there's something i've forgotten. There's always something and it seems like no matter how much I do, nothing ever gets done (you know what i'm saying?). By the time I finally rest my bones on the couch, I can't even think about holding a phone up to my ear or typing an email. I'm sure John thinks i've gone mute because my brain is so fried, I can hardly muster a conversation with him at night.
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - I love love love my job as a mommy and take it more seriously than I have ever taken anything in my life. This is more my attempt to beg you, my dear and loved friends, not to count me out. Just be patient with me for the next 'er 18 years or so until I find some extra time. Not a day goes by that ALL of my friends are not in my thoughts and sometimes reflecting back on our funny memories is what gets me through those exhausting days. I miss our happy hours, midnight trips to Waffle House, beach days, concerts, Ladies' Dinners, and movie nights - I have traded them for a little fellow who needs all of the love & attention I can give him. But hang tight because we'll get there again.
xoxo,
Courtney
I know that "being a mommy" is a poor defense for the amount of neglect you have been receiving, but it's the best and most honest excuse I have to give. It's amazing that I have had time to juggle all of these amazing friendships throughout the years but one little baby comes along and is more time-consuming than the whole lot of you. I work during the day, which has been surprisingly busy. When I get home in the evening, I bust my chops to get bottles washed, dinner cooked, tomorrows bottles made, baby fed, baby washed, baby loved, honey loved and just when 9 o'clock baby bedtime rolls around and I think i'm done, oops, there's something i've forgotten. There's always something and it seems like no matter how much I do, nothing ever gets done (you know what i'm saying?). By the time I finally rest my bones on the couch, I can't even think about holding a phone up to my ear or typing an email. I'm sure John thinks i've gone mute because my brain is so fried, I can hardly muster a conversation with him at night.
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - I love love love my job as a mommy and take it more seriously than I have ever taken anything in my life. This is more my attempt to beg you, my dear and loved friends, not to count me out. Just be patient with me for the next 'er 18 years or so until I find some extra time. Not a day goes by that ALL of my friends are not in my thoughts and sometimes reflecting back on our funny memories is what gets me through those exhausting days. I miss our happy hours, midnight trips to Waffle House, beach days, concerts, Ladies' Dinners, and movie nights - I have traded them for a little fellow who needs all of the love & attention I can give him. But hang tight because we'll get there again.
xoxo,
Courtney
12.17.2007
2007, WHERE ARE YOU?!?!
Could someone out there please be kind enough to tell me where exactly 2007 has disappeared... did I forget to wake up from the nap that I took on January 3rd and miss everything???
I'm confused!
Maybe the year was lost in the shuffle of all my shoe shopping OR between the driving that I did from my apartment to the vet's office for the million medical debacles in which my dog found himself. Or perhaps some of the days were physically discarded from my memory to erase the trauma of the handful of "first dates" that I ventured out on and the continued attempts to dim the heat on 2 old flames. Is it possible that the year got trapped in my old Cougar on the day that I sold it and drove off the lot in my new Jeep Cherokee? Or maybe it was tossed overboard on the day that we almost capsized in Scott's 15' Jon Boat while attempting to cross the usually calm Charleston Harbor.
I'm also thinking that I potentially could have laughed those days straight into oblivion. This year of gut-busters included: Aubrey trying to kill his first cockroach (HILARIOUS!); the day I put aside my fear of birds (and all other winged animals) and took Riley to the park to feed the ducks and the damn things tried to attack us - as our quick step turned into a mad dash I almost peed-my-pants from laughter & fright (I'm still somewhat scarred by this experience); the International Mall bathroom experience (i'm laughing out loud as I type that one); late night escapades with Stephen, the "Crenco bandit"; Mandy swinging the stripper pole in her drunken birthday haze; Poogan's Porch brunch with the now infamous silent farting assassin; Pablo Escobar sightings; the TALL Carissa, little Courtney photoshoot... I could go on and on but I'll stop myself!
Or maybe... just maybe... piled in a large box that is long forgotten, are the days and hours I spent at work. The hours spent saying "Good afternoon, HMY Yacht Sales". Typing. Paper work for 6 million dollars worth of Closings. Dock Walks. Documentation Agents. Lienholders. Insurance Agents. Time Sheets. Paper Jams. Staff Meetings. ahhhhhhhhhh! I must stop before I stress myself out.
Chances are, it's lost in a daydream somewhere... a sunset that caught my eye and stayed with me for the rest of those days!
At any rate, I notice that every passing year goes by faster and faster. Yesterday I was driving back from DC after one of the most interesting New Year celebrations of my life, and today I'm struggling to wrap up Christmas shopping because it's one week to the day before Santa squeezes his jolly self down the chimney of every eager boy & girl in the world. Maybe Santa will leave a giant remote control with a super-sized pause button, under my Christmas tree.
But until then, I'm sure glad I took plenty of pictures...
I'm confused!
Maybe the year was lost in the shuffle of all my shoe shopping OR between the driving that I did from my apartment to the vet's office for the million medical debacles in which my dog found himself. Or perhaps some of the days were physically discarded from my memory to erase the trauma of the handful of "first dates" that I ventured out on and the continued attempts to dim the heat on 2 old flames. Is it possible that the year got trapped in my old Cougar on the day that I sold it and drove off the lot in my new Jeep Cherokee? Or maybe it was tossed overboard on the day that we almost capsized in Scott's 15' Jon Boat while attempting to cross the usually calm Charleston Harbor.
I'm also thinking that I potentially could have laughed those days straight into oblivion. This year of gut-busters included: Aubrey trying to kill his first cockroach (HILARIOUS!); the day I put aside my fear of birds (and all other winged animals) and took Riley to the park to feed the ducks and the damn things tried to attack us - as our quick step turned into a mad dash I almost peed-my-pants from laughter & fright (I'm still somewhat scarred by this experience); the International Mall bathroom experience (i'm laughing out loud as I type that one); late night escapades with Stephen, the "Crenco bandit"; Mandy swinging the stripper pole in her drunken birthday haze; Poogan's Porch brunch with the now infamous silent farting assassin; Pablo Escobar sightings; the TALL Carissa, little Courtney photoshoot... I could go on and on but I'll stop myself!
Or maybe... just maybe... piled in a large box that is long forgotten, are the days and hours I spent at work. The hours spent saying "Good afternoon, HMY Yacht Sales". Typing. Paper work for 6 million dollars worth of Closings. Dock Walks. Documentation Agents. Lienholders. Insurance Agents. Time Sheets. Paper Jams. Staff Meetings. ahhhhhhhhhh! I must stop before I stress myself out.
Chances are, it's lost in a daydream somewhere... a sunset that caught my eye and stayed with me for the rest of those days!
At any rate, I notice that every passing year goes by faster and faster. Yesterday I was driving back from DC after one of the most interesting New Year celebrations of my life, and today I'm struggling to wrap up Christmas shopping because it's one week to the day before Santa squeezes his jolly self down the chimney of every eager boy & girl in the world. Maybe Santa will leave a giant remote control with a super-sized pause button, under my Christmas tree.
But until then, I'm sure glad I took plenty of pictures...
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