we're home

....after a 5 hour saga that ought to have just been a quick 3 hour drive home. Yuck! Suffice it to say, there were miles of bumper to bumper traffic, a detour, getting "lost" and driving 40 mph through fog on 2 lane roads. But we made it, and yesterday spent all day in the house, cleaning and UNdecorating. Feels good to get the house in some kind of decent shape before the school/therapy/band/singers/choir grind starts up again.

Inspired by my brilliant blogging friend Molly, I was thinking of writing my own version of a Christmas letter. Molly points out what is very true for so many of us about those letters......they make you want to cry and vomit at the same time. I even started writing one to share with you, and that was before I got home and found several stellar examples of the oh-so-perfect family letters in our mailbox. But I decided that my letter was just too long, too rambling, too depressing to even post here, so I guess it'll languish forever in the land of Blogger drafts that are never posted. Instead I'll do this.......

My List of Previously Unfathomable Things That Happened in 2008:

1. You've gotta put this one first.....Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. (grinning from ear to ear, of course--is there an emoticon for that?)

2. We chose to put little E on stimulant medications for his ADHD. The ADHD dx wasn't the unfathomable part, as we've assumed that for a while. But the meds....never in a million years thought I'd be doing that for my child.

3. I'm teaching Chorus. Yes, I love to sing. Yes, I'm in choir at church and have even joined a community chorus this year, but still......I'm a BAND person, but increasingly I feel more like a singer than an instrumentalist. *sigh*

4. We're considering moving. Just across town, to be closer to schools, etc, but it's still a big leap. When we finally got this house built, and K moved us in practically single-handedly, he swore we'd never move out of here. But it just doesn't make sense here anymore, and I've chop off my left arm to have some more space; we're pretty cramped around here. So YIPPEE, we're taking baby steps toward maybe going on the market soon! I know, I know, timing couldn't be worse, but it is what it is, right?

5. A precious, dear friend died suddenly, of a heart attack. I miss him--he was so incredibly kind, insightful, unselfish, giving, talented.......what a loss to the music community around here, as well as a personal loss of a unique friend. :(

So what will 2009 bring? Can I make some requests? Hmmm, let's see......

--a new house, in the right part of town, that's bigger than what we have now

--changes at school in my teaching responsibilities, for the better

--a year of progress and success for my boys, and a happy school year for them as well as a positive start to Kindergarten for E.

If I can have these, or maybe even just some of them, maybe I'll have a reason to write one of those Christmas letters after all. A girl can dream, right?