New Year’s, new beginnings, new possibilities. A blank slate. I used to get nostalgic on New Year’s Eve and always try to imagine where I would be a year from that moment. Over time I gave up on that impossibility and now I just sit back and enjoy the ride on the roller coaster. Last year we were in Istanbul, walking misty streets, waiting for the fireworks to explode on the rooftops all around us. This year I’m going to curl up on my couch with my in-progress sweater and hopefully knit past the shoulders to the part where I divide for the sleeves. Two completely different ways to celebrate, but equally sweet.
It’s easy for me to be content when I’m warm, well fed, have healthy kids, and an easy life. When there are travels on the near horizon and a new career for Josh on the far one. A year from now we’ll be waiting to hear where our last move will be with the Marine Corps. And maybe we’ll be traveling. One year on, one year off . . . our last Christmas vacation in Bahrain. A trip to New Zealand is on everyone’s wish list (except for the part where it takes so long to get there). We’ll see what ends up coming together. Maybe I’ll finally make it to Italy.
We have lots of travel on the agenda for 2015 — so far Oman and Paris for me, Josh will also get to a few other countries for work, and Calvin is practically living in Germany this spring (he’s there now and has trips scheduled for the end of January and the end of February with school). We’re hoping for a return trip to Crete this fall and are considering a location in Europe for a summer trip instead of traveling all the way back to the US in June or July. Since Josh only has 2 weeks, 20 to 24 hours of transit on each end are making us reconsider our California trip. We love you all, but can’t help feeling that our time in this region is getting short and don’t want to miss any possibilities to show our kids the world.
