Well, I have resigned myself to the fact that I Must Do This Yearly Recap, even if it’s the only post I do all year. (To be FAIR, I did write eight other posts in 2015.)
(This yearly recap originated with Linda of All & Sundry. If you’re so inclined, you can read past versions of my responses: 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.)
- What did you do in 2015 that you’d never done before?
I became an aunt! Which also means I threw a baby shower for the first time. (I think it turned out okay!) I taught myself some very beginning basics of graphic design. I spent a night away from my daughter (and in a different state, even!). That’s all I can remember.
- Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Last year, I said:
I think last year’s are pretty good priorities for the year ahead: baby, husband, balance. But I’ll add a couple of things:
- I want to do better about accepting that I am me, and I am not perfect, and that is okay. And if other people can’t deal with that, fine. I can’t live to make other people happy.
- I want to try to DO things with Carla. Most of the time I spend with her is in the evenings or on weekend, which means that most of the time I spend with her is spent doing errands or housework. I would love to do OTHER things, like crafts or museums or walks or… I honestly don’t know what. Just things that we can do together that extend beyond the routine.
I think I have been better – with room still to improve – on the husband front. Balance is something that has gotten out of whack in the past six months, but I am working on a plan to improve that. I still feel like I have A Lot of Work to do on the Being a Good Mom front. But for the most part, Carla is happy and well-adjusted and healthy and growing and generally pretty awesome, so I am at least not COMPLETELY effing things up.
I do think I’ve made some progress on the “accepting I am me” thing. It’s hard. But I am just trying to be more honest about my needs and it has worked out fairly well. I’m not perfect at it, and it doesn’t work perfectly, but it’s progress.
The trying new things with Carla HAS gone well. We started her in swimming lessons, which we now do almost every week. She goes to a little gymnastics group most weekends. We have been to the zoo several times, to the history and art museums, to the farm, to the spray park, to many playgrounds. We have made pizza together and cookies and chocolates and played with play doh and paint and sidewalk chalk. It has been a lot of fun and I don’t regret a single minute of it.
This year, I want to prioritize my husband, quality time with my kid, balance in my life… and I also want to really work on personal fulfillment. That sounds… vague and a little frou-frou and a lot privileged, but I think it will honestly help with the first three priorities. At least, I hope so. And I’m going to try.
- Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes! My sister had a baby!!!
- Did anyone close to you die?
No.
- What countries did you visit?
Not really a big year for travel. I visited three states besides my own: Illinois, Florida, and my home state. All with Carla.
- What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?
More time for my husband. More time for writing.
- What dates from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Nothing jumps out at me.
- What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I am going to go TOTALLY FRIVOLOUS with this one, and say: making incremental improvements to our house. We re-did the front landscaping (which I mentioned last year as my biggest failure), and we got a new dishwasher and a new kitchen faucet (and a new faucet in the guest bathroom to boot) and I feel like we have finally gotten into a rhythm with normal house maintenance stuff that makes me feel like the walls aren’t going to cave in around me at any second.
- What was your biggest failure?
Being too yelly.
- Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing out of the ordinary.
- What was the best thing you bought?
We bought a NEW CAR last January, and it is awesome. It has seat warmers, which is just about the best invention ever. It’s my husband’s, though, so I don’t get to experience it every day. And our BRAND NEW DISHWASHER is awesome, too!
- Whose behavior merited celebration?
This goes 100% to my husband. Not that my parents (whom I have listed here in previous years) weren’t ALSO wonderful. But my husband has been… amazing. First of all, he graduated from his fellowship – which means he finished TEN YEARS of training. And he started with a practice and has been working his tail off to build a patient base and establish himself. And even with all that, he’s been incredibly supportive of me and just a fantastic father to Carla.
- Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I can’t even.
- Where did most of your money go?
Taxes, loan payments, mortgage, savings, daycare. Plus, you know New Things, like the aforementioned car and dishwasher. New things ain’t free, yo.
- What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Last year I said: The holidays this year. Carla is so excited about EVERYTHING, and it is so fun to see that.
I didn’t even KNOW what excited was! She has been so delighted about the holidays and so delightful! I’ve gotten really into decorating and trying to make things special for her because she enjoys it so much.
Also: NEW NIECE!!!!
- What song(s) will always remind you of 2015?
Hmm. I have a constant rotation of Adele, Justin Beiber, and The Weeknd on autoplay in my head… but I don’t honestly know the title of any of the songs that are lodged in my brain. And I definitely listened to the Taylor Swift 1989 album a billion times. I love the whole thing. There were some others, this past summer, but damned if I remember them in any way.
- Compared to this time last year, are you:
- a) happier or sadder? Sadder.
- b) thinner or fatter? Fatter.
- c) richer or poorer? Richer. Dual incomes, baby!
- What do you wish you’d done more of?
Writing.
- What do you wish you’d done less of?
Same as last year: Fretting. Crying.
- How did you spend Christmas?
In my house, with a real tree my husband and Carla and I picked out together and decorated together, with my parents. It was low-key and simple and there was lots of wine and it was very, very nice.
- Did you fall in love in 2015?
Ugh. Every year this one makes me gag a little, but I definitely fell more in love with my husband. He’s a practicing physician and getting to that point beside him has made me love him in new and better ways.
- What was your favorite (new) TV program?
The Leftovers. And, new to me though not to anyone else, Louie.
- Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I can’t really think of anyone I hate.
- What was the best book you read?
Did I read any books this year? I feel like I STARTED a few, but not sure how many I finished. The Martian? Oh – and there was the new Tana French book, right? I liked that one.
- What did you want and get?
A Fair Isle sweater from Boden!
- What did you want and not get?
A white Christmas.
- What was your favorite film of this year?
Um. Did I watch any films? I think I watched Spy with Melissa McCarthy – that was pretty cute. Oh! And Carla and I watched her first Disney movie (The Little Mermaid) together which was a super fun experience.
- What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Practically the same answer as last year:
I was 34, and I cannot for the life of me remember what I did for my birthday.
- What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Same as every year (don’t I ever PROGRESS as a person?!?!):
Being able to just LET GO and not freak out about EVERYTHING.
- How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2015?
I have full-on embraced the leggings-as-pants “style” that I used to disdain. COMFORT IS KEY. In your face, Past Me!
- What kept you sane?
My husband. My iPhone. Talking to my parents every other day.
- Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I don’t even know.
- What political issue stirred you the most?
Nope. Not even going to.
- Who did you miss?
I guess I most missed the bloggers I used to interact with regularly, back when I blogged frequently and they blogged frequently. I suppose I should figure out a way to do Twitter (which makes me uncomfortable for some reason).
- Who was the best new person you met?
I don’t know that I met many new people this year.
- Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2015.
You can live in disrepair for a long while and come to believe everything is okay. But life can be immeasurably better if you fix what’s broken.
- Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Wish we could turn back time to the good old days / when our mama sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.
Happy New Year, Internet! I hope to see much more of you in 2016.
Thanks for taking out the time to write such a wonderful post. Wishing a great year to you all…
I so appreciate your posts. My husband is in 2nd year of residency (6 more years min. Of training to go…) and life has been tough this year. I still feel like residency isn’t all that bad or hard… But living away from family certainly is. Anyway – thank you for sharing.
I’ve been meaning to come by and comment on all your posts lately, but yeah. I’m bad at following through with most things these days. But let me just say that I’m SO glad to see you writing again. And selfishly, I really hope you do find a way to make time for writing because I still very frequently think about that story you shared in the writing group we were in together – where the guy goes to the old lady to buy something mysterious?? – and I want to know what happens. So nice to hear from you, friend 🙂