- Cade turned 3! He had a Curious George birthday party at the park.
- I went to Boston for a business trip and got to see my roomies while there.
- Ross and I went to Vegas. We saw Elvis and went out for fancy birthday dinner. And, best news of all, only lost a little money.
- I went to a great great great conference in Nashville. It was really geeky. And the boys survived mommy leaving again.
- I accepted the role of publicity co-chair for Chaps. My first order of business is email marketing.
- We all went to Galveston for a family vacation. It was more relaxed than last year's beach trip, which though ultimately good, took some adjusting to. I was ready for Cade to need constant entertaining or risk meltdown and it definitely took a day to discover we could just vegge out. Ah, vacation.
- Kevin visited for Fourth of July! We went to brunch, saw the local Fourth parade, watched baseball, ate pizza and generally just had a good time.
- And then I went to Seattle. It seems like me getting on planes was a theme this spring and summer (truth). I helped Val and Justin make sure that baby Quinn was well cultured with winery, brewery and vineyard visits. All in three days.
- Sorta during all of that, Cade took swim lessons. It varied between "weekly torture session" and "wow - this is kinda fun." Given that last year it was 100% torture, I'd say that's an improvement.
- I changed jobs. Still at Abila, now Digital Marketing Manager.
- Ross has been uber involved in the union, specifically on a labor committee. He even spoke at an all-department meeting last month.
- Oh right, and we bought a ranch. Yup, a ranch. 14.81 acres in Lampasas County that we now own. Ross is EXCEPTIONALLY excited but really, we're all pretty darn happy about it. And, at the risk of jinxing it, it just seems to be getting better. The day we closed we realized there are power lines on it, which is a huge cost savings and yesterday we got a call about improved access to city water, another potential cost savings. So...knock on wood and all that.
So that's the "what" of what happened. Cut and dry facts. Not much reflection baked in. But I can give you that too.
I feel like we've moved into a chapter in life where we are playing the long game. I'm not really a long game person by nature; I live to move fast and want fairly instant results. That's probably why I feel so aware of this shift.
For example, parenting is pretty much always the long game. Cade is three and I think my friend Rachel sums it up best "Three year olds are two year olds who have gone pro." He's pretty extreme in all his ways right now. As in he's extremely naughty or extremely amazing and adorable. He'll call me his best girl or "my love" but then lose his ever-loving mind if asked to change seats at the dinner table (actual thing that happened 3 days ago). So it's the long game, wondering which side is going to prevail and be the person he's going to be.
My new job is also one of tiny tests, weeks of waiting for results and then rinse and repeat. My old job was similar but instead of "weeks of waiting" it was hours of waiting so this too has become the long game.
The ranch is the super long game. We bought it now but we won't build out there for at least 15 years (according to Ross), more likely 20 years (according to me). For now we're paying the bills and doing minor improvements. Don't interpret this as anything other than incredible excitement for the ranch. We're REALLY excited. It's a very cool, exciting and fun long game.
There you have it, cut and dry facts and reflection on this new game we're playing. Maybe I'll check back in 15-20 years when I have results to share. ;)
