<p>I watched the Today Show’s retrospective of the year and that made me think of my own favorite moments of the year.</p>
<p>Personal: My sister and her ex walking their D down the aisle at her wedding. Those two define “dysfunctional couple” but my niece is lovely and poised and accomplished and for just a moment, despite decades of turmoil, they were a happy, if quirky, family.</p>
<p>Other: This is actually many moments, because I watched the live streaming coverage, but watching the Fierce Five in Olympic women’s gymnastics. I love those young women. For me it’s about them being able to perform under tremendous pressure. There were probably other ladies just as good at practice in the gym, or at lesser meets, but I love the ability to be able to do what you do best when it matters most.</p>
<p>My daughter being inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. I actually was out of state helping my sister in law after surgery, so I was not even at the ceremony. I was so sad I was not there, I suppose it was because I was so happy and proud of her. It would have never happened to me, and we do spend a lot of time comparing ourselves to our children! I always knew she would graduate…but PBK was well deserved frosting on the cake.
On a national note…the Oakland A’s end of season run! It was inspiring watching a bunch of young boys ( I swear they all have acne) go so far in the pennant race.</p>
<p>This has not been a good year. Many disappointments, much stress. Of course, things could easily have been MUCH worse, so I’m not complaining. My S’s college graduation was about the only bright spot.</p>
<p>Also kids related… My D graduating college, passing 3 of 4 sections of her CPA exam (missed passing her specialty “audit” by 1 point), and working at a Big 4. My S interning this past summer. It is such a relief when our kids are gainfully employed but I can not even imagine what it must be like when they are in danger and their lives are at stake.</p>
<p>As many of you know, my son is the light of my life. This past year he went through the monstrous, grotesque, sadistic high school application process in NYC. My son is a quirky guy who is smart, disorganized, gentle and plays a mean jazz clarinet. He auditioned to several schools, public and private. Among them, the two likeliest admits were adamant that they had no place for a clarinet in jazz band and he should move solely to sax, which he also plays. At the encouragement of his private music teacher, we visited a prep school in another borough that is known for its music and its academics. When we visited, among the first things we saw was a young man rocking his clarinet right there in the front of the jazz band! This school was out of our league financially and socially. We’re blue collar people and it’s a prep school. But they do give scholarships, so my son auditioned. We were told that there would be three scholarships given, but people like us don’t get those kinds of scholarships. Here in NYC, the admission decisions come out on the same day, so on admission day I took off from work and stalked my mailman. Two packages came with nice acceptances and small scholarships. Nothing from the hoped for school. I was devastated, but we tried to make the best of it for my son and hung up balloons for the second choice school before he got home. He was brave but heartbroken. About an hour later the phone rang and it was the director of the dream school. He apologized that there had been a glitch and the letters to scholarship recipients missed the mail deadline, so he was calling to offer out son the top music scholarship offered by the school!! I sank to the floor and cried. On related notes, earlier this fall, there was a ceremony at which the person who endowed my son’s scholarship officially gave it to him, which was incredibly moving so my son could see where the money had come from. Two weeks ago I had the great joy of seeing my darling boy play his clarinet in the front row of the jazz band, rocking to his idol, Benny Goodman.</p>
<p>DD graduating from HS and dropping her off at an OOS college.
Our communication changed over the semester from us contacting her to her contacting US!</p>
<p>Hearing DS, a college junior home for the break, ask us why we don’t wash out our trash cans more often. (Apparently, he and his housemates keep up with household chores.). It sounds funny, but it’s the little things that show how he’s matured! :)</p>
<p>Highlight of the year, going with D and two of her friends ( and their families) on a trip to NYC and a cruise. </p>
<p>Watching the Olympics through the eyes of my 10 yr. old.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! For those of you who don’t know, 07Dad had been incredibly generous and kind in helping my son (and me!) transition into a new and different environment. I don’t know what we would have done without his kind and calming influence.</p>
<p>Congratulations, Zoosermom. My favorite parts of 2012 were my son’s college graduation, and my (continuing) joy in seeing him thrive at his museum internship.</p>
<p>I would have to say that the highlight of the year was celebrating my Dad’s 80th birthday.
H and I are so blessed in having all of our parents still with us and in reasonably good health.</p>
<p>We loved attending D’s ALMOST graduation this past spring & then parent’s weekend with her & S at her U. She’s taking a few more courses. We also loved watching a movie that she was artistic director for.</p>
<p>Loved having S drive me to the airport and try to upgrade my ticket when I was flying home to beat Superstorm Sandy.</p>
<p>Loved going on a cruise to Alaska Inside Passage with just H & me and my best friend and her H, as well as H’s HS classmates.</p>
<p>Am loving that H will be retiring on New Year’s Day, but they are frantically re-hiring him because they are belatedly recognizing that they have no idea how they can carry on without him & he LOVES his job. ;)</p>
<p>In the same week in the summer, my recent college grad son got a very nice job in his field, and my 28-year-old daughter became engaged. Much joy all around. :)</p>
<p>Clean bill of health at the beginning of 2012 after suffering a nasty staph infection that entailed surgery and IV antibiotics and many visits to a wound clinic. I’ve been free of the staph infection for 11 months.</p>
<p>In some ways , this was one very difficult year for us. We unexpectedly lost our dog , and although we have lost more than our share of pets, this one hit hard. A month after that, we lost a dear friend also unexpectedly and I still think about him almost daily and it still makes me emotional. The hurricane took a toll on us financially , causing a lot of stress.
But on the positive side , I turned 50 and had the best birthday of my life . My husband arranged for a surprise party and all of my family travelled to my home for it. And my husband and I took a trip to a place I have wanted to visit for a long time , Scotland ! It was wonderful. My mother’s side of the family immigrated from there and I have always had a lot of curiosity about it. It was so nice to feel a connection to my roots and I wished that my grandmother and mother had been able to see it too. My mother is too afraid to fly to take that journey</p>
<p>Zooser,what a great story! Your family will never forget that happy day. Congrats to your son. I’m so impressed, as a clarinet player in my youth who could never get the hang of jazz. I know he’s having a great time.</p>
<p>Aug. 9, my birthday, on a much,much needed vacation in Little Compton RI and it was a picture perfect beach day. Extended family around, a spur of the moment lobster dinner prepared by the guys while us girls sipped wine on the deck overlooking the ocean…I was in heaven. It was perfect. It is etched in my mind as a beautiful time.</p>