year's end

Some scenes from a happy holiday.  Old Lily kept us home from visiting the Cities (and we missed everyone) but she had enough spunk to open a gift (like always) on Christmas Eve-even if she was beat for days after that.  Many hours of quiet at home turned out to be just what everyone needed.  Some hikes, some snow play, and lots of knitting by the fire.  Time to reflect on a trying but also incredibly beautiful year.

This week we'll enter the medical system again and Andy will endure tests that will tell us.... something.  It's easy to tell ourselves stories about what the something will be, but if we've learned anything on this trip it's been that the future is unknown no matter how much time we spend worrying about it.  And so, bit by bit, we try to spend less time worrying and more time being present in the wonder of what is right now.  Visiting with old friends, smiling as your neighbor comes by at just the right time to pull your car back onto your driveway, watching that old dog's heart working hard as she sleeps by the fire, snapping the last piece into the jigsaw puzzle, and listening to the older one read to the younger one as they wake together in the too early morning.

2017.  May you be full of these moments. Common, everyday, beautiful moments.  For all.