I think this is the first year in a few years that I wasn’t glad to see go away. For me, it was a pretty good year overall, though every year has its ups and downs. I know when I’ve had a good year, others haven’t, and when others have had good years, I might not have. I feel lucky that this feels like overall a pretty good year.
2019:
I recorded music for a play. I played with the Who and Weird Al Yankovic. My band put out a CD. I taught hundreds of lessons. I relearned how to cross stitch. I stood in a campsite in Banff as a herd of elk walked through. Louie and I picked out a new car together. I made date pudding and served Christmas Dinner to 12 people. I went to Branson and saw Dolly Parton’s DP Stampede and drove a golf cart. I hiked to a Tea House in Lake Louise and to the top of a mountain in Yellowstone. I saw many cities of prairie dogs, bison, black bears, and a grizzly bear. We lost our cat Miles. I played more weddings than I would like to be able to count. I welcomed my new nephew to the world. I watched a raccoon walk right up my front steps. I went down a bunch of slides at the City Museum. I walked on a glacier. I ate poutine while looking at the same glacier. I ran a few 5k’s. I made authentic British Scones. I had lobster. I played some operas and some musicals. We finished remodeling the upstairs bathroom shower. I read more books that I could possibly name, and particularly enjoyed the Outlander Series and the Philippa Gregory books.
Decade in Review “the ‘10s”:
I got married, got divorced, and then I met Louie. I made some great friends, but lost some too. I lost quite a few pets but gained a couple. I lost my grandmother and two uncles and I gained a niece and nephew and a brother-in-law. I learned to play viola and I taught thousands of violin lessons (I won’t begin to count). I paid off my student loans. I ran a bunch of races. I visited France, Italy, Canada, various Caribbean Islands, and lots of different states. I stayed in a teepee, and slept in a tent while a bear attacked the car nearby. I hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back in one day and lived to tell the tale (don’t do it!). I read thousands (I assume) of books and watched quite a lot of television shows as well. I baked many cookies and quite a few pies. I got better at cooking. I learned to pee in the woods while hiking. I experienced a lot of self-doubt, both personally and professionally and worked through some of it.
As I sit in my house (“comfy and cozy” as my niece Athena described it), typing on my laptop, wearing my Glacier Park t-shirt and gray joggers, things seem pretty good. I’m warm, I’m dry, I’m cozy, I’m texting with a few friends as I type (distraction-free this blog post isn’t), and I still have 6 more days before I get back to teaching…life is pretty darned good. They say hindsight is 2020, but it seems to me that for today, foresight is 2020.
and nothing was more fun that when they would join us in a game (board, not reindeer.) 
