While 2010 has been a year of highs and lows for so many, the Harveys are blessed to say we’re closing it out on a high note.
For us, 2010 will go down as the year of The Big Adventure. Over the years, Randy and I have watched our friends pack up their belongings and relocate to all kinds of exotic places (Korea, Anchorage, New York City, Hawaii, Colorado Springs, and Milwaukee), and we’ve thought, “wow, we cannot IMAGINE having to move again.” We said this with conviction until last March when we went for a walk in the Arboretum and stumbled across an overgrown, rat-infested, leaky, dilapidated house for sale near the park. Armed with little more than nostalgia for old homes and a healthy dose of naiveté, it was only a matter of days before we decided to throw caution into the wind and place a bid on this house.
The journey to our new home took a steep, ragged, switchback path. The path included losing the house to a builder who made a cash offer, getting the house back, selling our previous home in under a week, finding a trustworthy contractor to oversee the massive remodel, putting most of our worldly belongings in storage for 6 months, securing and losing a rental house, staying with Tim & Christie for two weeks, moving in to my best friend’s mother-in-law’s basement, changing schools, and spending every free minute of our summer and fall trying to make the house livable again. Appropriately, we moved into the house on Thanksgiving eve and woke up to a rare and beautiful Thanksgiving snowfall on our first morning. We love this house, and while we still have a lot to do, we are so grateful to be where we are right now that our joy quickly dispels any worries about time lines and money (for now). The bottom of this post shows a series of photos taken recently.
As with any Big Adventure, there have been some interesting tangential happenings going on at the same time. In May, I was fortunate to be able to go to England with Dad & Sharon to visit extended family that I hadn’t seen in years, and some of whom I’d never met before! It was a delightful trip—so lovely to see people who mean so much to me. Dad, Sharon and I ambled about a bit…starting at my aunt & uncle’s home in Devon and doing day trips to Bath and Salisbury, then heading north to my cousin Debbie’s place in Southwell (near Nottingham) and looping back down toward London where we spent a few days at my cousin Sarah’s home in Aldbury. Everyone was welcoming and generous (and patient, given that I lost my voice and developed an annoying cough), and I hope they will let me return the hospitality on this side of the ocean. It was hard to be away from my boys for over a week, but they seemed to fare just fine without me!
June, July, and August are a blur—at this point we were working diligently on the house although we did take a week off to go to Spirit Lake before school started. I even managed to squeeze in a very short trip back to Skaneateles to visit Katherine & co., some of my good NY friends, and attend my 20th high school reunion. I am definitely pro-reunion. It was so interesting to see everyone and learn about the different paths we've all taken. It felt a lot like a wedding though--too many people to talk to in the course of one brief evening.
In September Randy took a much-needed (read this as MUCH NEEDED) break from working on the house to attend his annual guys hike. As always, he found this to be refreshing, rejuvenating, and reaffirming. He has been working on the house with tireless enthusiasm for months now, so if you see him, please give him a pat on the back (gently, because he's got a few aches and pains at this point).
Of course, the boys have been busy with their own going-ons too. After watching several World Cup matches on TV, Emmett acquired an interest in soccer and so we signed him up on a local soccer league in our new neighborhood. As luck would have it, 2 other boys on his team ended up being in Emmett's new class at school, and this helped with the transition. Emmett was a little behind on the soccer field--most of the kids on his team have been playing since they were 3 or 4, but Emmett really enjoyed it and the kids on his team were amazing and supportive, which made for a great experience. Emmett also went from a good reader to an avid reader this year, and has a renewed interest in dinosaurs. In fact, he is pretty much a walking encyclopedia of dinosaur facts.
Griffen took us by surprise this year when he decided to sign up for basketball. He just started practicing last month, but so far he's having a great time. He's a bit of a ham on the court (and off the court), so his games should prove entertaining, if not frustrating for the coach. Griffen also became a more adept bike rider this year, so we're already looking forward to family rides through nearby parks once the weather warms up in...July.
We cannot possibly say thank you enough to everyone who has been so supportive of us this year. Thank you for the encouragement, the neighborly visits, the child care, the advice, the hammer swinging, and the love.
I leave you with a few things I’ve learned this year:
- Time goes by more slowly if you wake up every morning and ask "Is it Christmas yet?"
- Laughter should never be stifled, even at the office.
- George Washington may have been killed by wild pigs.
- I am wholly responsible whenever a lunch, homework, or book is forgotten on route to school.
- Geckos are hardy; African Dwarf Frogs are not.
- When you are upset about something, it's perfectly acceptable to make up your own logic and expect others to buy into it.
- When you are happy about something, it's perfectly acceptable to roll around on the floor with your limbs flailing so that your entire body is involved with your exuberance.
May 2011 find you rolling around on the floor, overtaken by happiness.
Love,
Randy, Joanne, Emmett & Griffen
Before and After
