Wow! Eight years have passed!

What a whirlwind of milestones, high points and lows since I last wrote. Let me give the short and fast for now.

In 2013, I started my career in Marketing, at the same time Mark and I purchased a home just a few blocks from where the kids and I previously lived. A few weeks later, we married in our backyard.

It was in 2014 that I successfully quit smoking, though I vaped for two additional years after that. This was also the year that the kids and I were reunited with Nicholas and Allicia. Their adoptive mother was very supportive in including us in their lives going forward, and I am ever so grateful. Camping was at Button Bay State Park in Vergennes, a place we frequented for several years. Last, we finally adopted a four legged friend named Max. He was quite crazy when we first took him in.

In 2015, my daughter hit the ground running with learning guitar. She even tried getting her brother interested. The kids, my friend Maegan, her two, and I went camping in the NEK. We were able to take the kids fishing for a bit until it poured, and I mean it straight up down poured shortly after we arrived and it didn't let up until the morning we were scheduled to leave, we couldn't have left earlier if we wanted to since my car was stuck in the mud. After the first night, we had to take the kids blankets and clothes to the laundromat to dry, because the tent did not keep the water out. We also stopped at the local hardware store to purchase a crazy expensive tarp to prevent the tent from leaking again. We survived and even went on a hike the last day. Our tents were tossed, along with the millions of slugs that attached themselves to the outside. Regardless, it was an experience that we will all remember for years to come.

2016 we started taking long road trips for family vacations. We visited Pennsylvania and the Hershey Factory, we stayed in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where we met Mark's biological brother and walked the Luray Caverns, and toured Washington D.C.

2017 we took a family trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with a stop in Virginia along the way. Krisanta attended prom her freshman year with a boy she had dated previously. I took Krisanta to a Green Day and a Breaking Benjamin concert, and took both her and my sister Sam to see Evanescence. We also adopted our beautiful Ruby, of which Max was not too pleased with.

 

The year 2018 was a hard one. It was a year of uncertainty, a year of sadness, and a year I felt hopeless and confused. This year nearly broke me, but it did not start off that way. In May, my daughter attended prom with a friend, while I traveled internationally for the first time to Aruba with a few girlfriends. Before the start of school, Caiden and I hiked and camped remotely on Camels Hump. I took Krisanta and a friend to see Black Veil Brides and Asking Alexandrea. Later, I took the whole family to see Bullet for My Valentine. Krisanta cried when they walked past us on the street, and again when she went backstage to meet them. I also drove the kids down to vacation in Virgina with Lael and Braylie.

2019 was the year of recovery for me. It was the year where I finally started paying attention to me and set goals for my future. I picked up college courses (7 for the year) and started working towards my degree again after laying dormant since 2006. It brought another trip to Aruba and a girls trip to Maine. It also included two concerts, one with the kids and I in Boston to see State Champs and another with headliners Papa Roach, Asking Alexandria and Bad Wolves. We took a family trip to Florida where we parasailed for the first time. And the in December, in 6 degree weather, I did something crazy and slept out in a tent to raise money for the homeless. I still get cold thinking about it.

 

Then there is 2020. The year of the pandemic. The year my daughter graduated from high school and the year I received my first degree. While it created challenges, it also created opportunities. While working from home and having the world shut down around us for the first three months, family is what we had to rely on. I am grateful to it because it is what helped my son and I bond and repair our relationship. I was supposed to go to California in May, take the kids to see My Chemical Romance, and go to my first country concert with Maegan. The California trip was cancelled and the two concerts are rescheduled for late 2021. I am still in college and on my 9th course for 2020. I am about 2 1/2 years into my second degree. I've spent a lot of my summer hiking and working on/paying for projects around the house. I took Caiden kayaking (my first time) and learned how to sew masks (I believe I am just over 100). I ended up traveling to Aruba in the middle of a global pandemic. Wow, what a difference it was from the last two trips. The flight was rescheduled a few times, COVID test required within 3 days of the trip, masks at all times (except when able to socially distance outside). Grocery store trips required that everyone has a grocery cart (to help distance), mask, and sanitation prior to entry. An officer was even posted outside to enforce this. Nearly every restaurant and store would take your temperature prior to entry and again, hand sanitizer required at the door.

In the past 8 years, I have traveled to Illinois, Massachusetts (a million times), Connecticut,  Nevada, Virginia, Philadelphia, Maine, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Aruba, Rhode Island, and Washington D.C. Some for work, many for concerts, and otherwise for vacation. There were endless concerts attended by myself, my daughter and at times Caiden and Mark. I cannot count the number of times girlfriends and I biked the causeway to Snow Farm Vineyard, or the number of hikes I went on with friends and at times family. I gained two nieces, and reconnected with my stepfather and my older sister. There were a lot of heartaches, but for the most part, things eventually worked themselves out. There are still a few hang-ups and a bit of sadness, but I hope this individual is able to overcome their obstacles. All I can do is to model self-care and positive actions and hope they too see their value, their strengths, and their worth.