This is the one where Josie tickles little sister's feet.

I picked this one to show you.

This one is my favorite.

This is the one that I would hang up.

We went to New York.

First things first.  I need to thank Connie & Jason Moxley for watching Julian all weekend.  Terri & Kent Clark for watching D'arcy all weekend (immediately following a week long inpatient chemo hospital stay).  Kyle & Emily Clark and Dianne & Emmett Williams for tag teaming with the babies.  AND Julia Pheobus, Joshua Williams, and Joshua Jarvis who kept Begbie alive and happy.  They made this weekend possible and super thankful for their support.

Secondly, I have to tell you a small, but crazy story.  We took some pictures while we were in New York.  I plan to share some of them with you.  We did not get a picture of the two of us, though.  We were celebrating our anniversary, and it would have made sense to snap at least one, but it didn't happen.

So the crazy part is that I woke up this morning to find a picture of us together on the Brooklyn Bridge on my Facebook stream.  We have a friend named Sandy.  We met her in Texas, but she now lives in San Francisco.  She has a roommate that we have never met who just happened to be visiting New York the same weekend as us.  Someone took a picture of her on the Brooklyn Bridge and of all the hundreds of people on the bridge that day, we were behind her in the picture.  Sandy saw the picture and then said, "Wait I know those people."  The fun, crazy portion of this story totally makes up for the fact that I'm squinting/scowling and Stephen is busy adding a picture to Instagram.



So now on to my pictures which will come in the form of a collage.  The collage will show you that we did quite a bit of walking and eating...walking and drinking...walking and deserting.  We slipped in a show, a little church, some art, and a teeny bit of shopping.  I enjoyed myself.  

Here are some of my thoughts.

My thoughts on turning thirty-one.

I feel I've aged 10 years in just one. This is a direct result of my mom being diagnosed last summer, at the age of 50, with stage four endometrial cancer. And although I don't have cancer, her diagnosis impacts me and what I might have to face in my future. My mom is currently getting tested for lynch's disorder. Truthfully, I've never googled it, but I've been told that it predisposes you to certain types of cancers such as colon and endometrial. It's a genetic disorder and if she is positive than I might be as well. I was sharing this with friends recently and I said, "I'm turning thirty-one and all I feel I have to look forward to are colonoscopies and uterine biopsies." I realized later that afternoon how mello-dramatic that statement was, and I was able to laugh at myself a bit.

As I'm settling into my thirties, I've realized that life will be quite different than the life I lived in my twenties. It's as if I went on a huge life shopping spree. I'll take that man. I'll take that house in that neighborhood. I'll take this job. Oh, and throw some kids in, too. Now, my pocketbook is much thinner, but my house is full of all the stuff I've bought. There isn't a good return policy on life choices so now I've got to live the life I've chosen.

Don't get me wrong, I would make the same choices again. I'm thankful for that fact. Well, at least most of the major choices (I'm not one to say that I don't regret anything because it has "made me what I am today". A little regret can be a healthy, humbling experience.) What I'm really missing is the excitement of the choices lying in front of me. I might phrase this as a longing for youth as I see mine slipping away. This, I know, is also fairly mello-dramatic so feel free to laugh at me as I laugh at myself.

I can call it what I want, but if you strip it down it is a seed of discontent. A little bitter piece can spoil what is otherwise a good lot. I have a good lot and I don't want it spoiled. So that is my challenge as I go forward.

My thought on being married nine years.

We've officially passed the point in our relationship where we've been together longer than we were apart.  We have a quantum entanglement.  (I stole that from Survivor.)  If we were to unwrap from each other, I'm not sure what would be left whole.  That's not on our minds (the unwrapping part), but it's interesting to contemplate.  It's interesting to understand how much of our lives is built on the other.

Things have been turning this year.  I haven't been able to quite put my finger on it.  It seems the list of things we fight about has changed.  The old items have either been resolved or accepted.  We've crossed them off our "To Argue Over" list.  Some new items have been added, though.  All of our hopes and goals that we created together during premarital counseling have either been achieved or are obsolete.  We have been working on dreaming up some more.  What can we make as a team besides children?

Somehow, we are starting a new phase.  A phase that didn't announce itself with a graduation party or a wedding reception.  It sort of snuck up on us, and we are trying to acknowledge it's existence.  I'm being vague because this new phase is vague, and we are realizing we have to give it some form.

It's nice to know that I still like Stephen Williams very much.  He tells me the feeling is mutual.




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I took some engagement pictures on Mass. Ave.