Hello! Cough Cough.

Almost two years ago I made a Let's Try This Again post. And didn't. This morning, while searching for my crockpot dressing recipe, I started down a rabbit hold of looking at old posts. What memories! It is just time to get back to blogging. I have such a beautiful family and future ahead that it seems like a shame not to post about it. So, here we go ... again.

Hi! I am Nicole Taulman. I am now 50 years old and live in my childhood hometown in Missouri, although not for much longer. Rick and I officially divorced this past summer after many years of separation. However, we are still great friends co-parenting Eli and Brynne. He still comes here to our home for visits, celebrates holidays with us, and vacations with us when he can get away. I am the Director at a company out of New York called Brooklyn Letters and have been working remotely for three years. I worked remote before it was cool to do so because of the pandemic. This past spring we decided to take advantage of the crazy real estate market and sell our house, after just completing a major renovation. The house sold quick and we bought my grandmother's 700 square foot house and remodeled it. That turned out to be a pretty wise decision. As Dawson and Heather live in Charleston, South Carolina, and Brynne plans to go to college there in the fall of 2023, I decided that I want to spend a good portion of the second half of my life there, so I bought a condo. I close on it next week. My life pretty much consists of working, trying to keep up with two teenagers, and enjoying our backyard chickens with a glass of wine.

Kyndal and Collin now have two amazing little boys, my grandsons Bennett and Bowen. Bennett is 5 and in pre-k. Bowen is 2.5. They couldn't be any different, in looks and personality, but they are the absolute best and perfect combination of their mommy and daddy. Kyndal is a stay at home mom, just spending her days loving on her boys. Collin is an iron worker making us all proud with his work ethic. They are a great team taking care of their family.

Dawson and Heather are still in Charleston. Dawson is in the process of a Med Board to separate from the Air Force with a medical discharge, and is planning on going back to college when that is complete. Heather still works at her vet hospital as a customer care supervisor. They still have their crazy 4 dogs. They have been working through infertility issues for the past couple of years and are hoping that they are one step closer to getting some help.

Eli is a senior in high school and will be 18 next month. Unbelievable. He decided to go to high school part-time last year while taking Dual Credit college courses at home and then entered his senior year as a full-time public school student. Public school has been tough for him. He is so ready to get out and is so close. After graduation, he plans to go to a state college that is about 30 minutes from us to live in the dorms. When I move to Charleston in a couple of years, he plans (at least for right now) to move with me and transfer to college there. He still wants to pursue a degree in anthropology, history, and writing.

Brynne is a junior in high school and turned 16 in August. Also, unbelievable. She is still extremely active in FFA and basketball at school. She also started taking Dual Credit college classes regularly this year. Her plans include moving to Charleston to live with Dawson and Heather as soon as she graduates and attend College of Charleston. She is undecided as to her future plans. She has lost her desire to work in theatre, and would really like to do some coaching, but doesn't want to teach. We have talked a bit about exercise science, but who knows. That's the beauty of being 16.

We still have our old puppies, Quincy and Buck, who will be 12 years old next month. Along the way we have picked up two cats, Jedi and Rebel, a lizard named Mr. Heckles, and 7 chickens named Angelica, Eliza, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Beth, and Ursula.

We like our life. We are excited about our future. Will you join along on our continued journey? (If I ever come back here.)