Hello 2026! I don't do New Year's resolutions, but I do have the desire to revive my blog, so here we are.  I kind of shut down last year... 2025 was incredibly hard on our family, and I suppose I just retreated into this quiet space to deal with my worry and grief.  We found out in February that Norman had cancer.  Given the fact that we lost my dad only 5 years ago to cancer, this terrified me. But the surgery in March to remove it all was a success, so life has returned to normal.  

Eli has been working hard, and we are so proud of him! Chase is a senior this year, and next year he will take a gap year before settling down in adult life.  He wants to do voice acting, which isn't a typically reliable job, but he already knows that he has to have a job job...a real job, until he is making enough to support himself comfortably on his voice acting jobs. 

We are in a surreal position right now, because Norman is in the process of retiring. It seems like yesterday I was 21 years old and nervous about our first date.  Ironically, I went to visit my ex-fiancé's parents for a little support before meeting him. I love them dearly, and even though they didn't ever become my true in-laws, there was still a bond there. Our wedding anniversary is coming up on the 19th, and it seems so hard to believe we have been married for 24 years.  Technically we were married on November 15th in 2001, but only a handfull of people know about that.  If my parents ever found out, they never said anything to me about it. 24 years has flown by. The weirdest thing has been bothering me... well, not exactly bothering me, but lately I have had baby fever. Which sounds ridiculous because no way do I need another baby; I am 46 years old and so physically broken from all of my surgeries (as is Norman), so no way do we need to be chasing around a toddler.  Nope... my kids are 19 (in two weeks) and 22. I'm just gonna hold out until I get grandbabies. I had such a great fear of dying before my kids made it to adulthood, so I am relieved to see how grown up they are and know that they would survive if something happened to Norman and me.  Plus, we are close to family now, which is a Godsend. Alrighty...I'm signing off. I want to be back here more than I have been, so if you are a new or old reader, welcome to my blog.