Things have certainly changed in our family. Rick and I have been separated for about two and half years now. Although we are not together, we remain married. We work together to provide for the kids. He is always welcome in our home, comes for weekend visits and celebrates holidays with us. We even go on vacation together. We have found a way to make it work for everyone involved.
Kyndal and Collin added another sweet boy to our family this year. Bowen Trey was born last March. He is 9 months old and big brother Bennett is now 3. Time sure does go by fast. They are so much fun! Collin is a foreman iron worker, and Kyndal is a stay-at-home mama. They moved back to Concordia about a year and half ago.
Dawson joined the Air Force in 2018 and married Heather this past March. They live in Charleston, South Carolina, with their four dogs and have just put a contract on their first home. Dawson is an armorer with security forces and Heather is a supervisor at a prestigious vet clinic in Charleston.
Eli is a sophomore in high school and just turned 16 years old. He is still homeschooling and attends a classical private schooling group one day per week for some of his classes. He works at our local bowling alley and still spends much of his free time playing video games. As of right now, he plans to take an extra year to finish school to graduate in 2023 and then wants to move to Colorado to go to college to major in anthropology.
Brynne is a freshman in high school and is 14 years old. She went back to public school in 7th grade and is doing really well. She plays basketball and runs track. She is also very active in the FFA and theatre. She caught the musical theatre bug this past year, so plans to go to theatre school at the College of Charleston and live with Dawson when she graduates, if he is still living in Charleston.
Last year, I started working remotely for a company out of New York called Brooklyn Letters. We provide at-home speech language therapy and literacy tutoring to children and adolescents. I am now the Director. I get to work from home with great people. I love what I do for a living! In my spare time I still read and hang out with my kids and grandkids. I do not have much time for anything else.
This has really been kind of a year of ups and downs for me, and I find myself dealing emotionally with a lot of stuff. I have a pile of resentment and anger that needs to be properly dealt with, and it is possible I may do some of that on this blog in the upcoming months. For now, I sit and reflect on those things I would like to change and consider the direction I would like to move in the future. I am trying to stay as much in the moment as I can, whether it be a positive or negative moment. We will see where it takes me. But, I do want to get back to documenting more of my daily life as a journal to look back on. I can't say I am sorry to see this decade come to an end. I feel the need for a fresh start, and I am hopeful for all that the '20s will bring.
