In a Nutshell….
2008 was an interesting year. Words and phrases like ‘hockey mom,’ ‘Beijing,’ ‘Twitter,’ ‘staycation,’ Wii Fit,’ ‘The Dark Knight,’ ‘Ga$oline,’ ‘large hadron collider,’ ‘3G,’ ‘Bail Out,’ and ‘Change’ took on new meanings for most Americans.
At the end of each year, I try to spend some time reflecting on the past 12 months. I look at all of the marvelous things that have happened for us along with the disappointments as I prepare myself to move into the New Year with a fresh perspective and positive outlook. Each of the past several years have held great surprises, successes, experiences and joy along with time spent in the company of friends and family. We continue to face difficult times and make mistakes just like anyone else, but we try to focus on the positive and keep moving forward. 2008 was no exception.
WORK
As 2008 began, I left my job and started my own business. It wasn’t an easy thing to do as the economy declined rapidly the second half of the year, but I stuck to it and managed to keep moving things along. In March, Dennis said goodbye to AT&T’s Harvey garage as he was moved to Chicago Heights. With this change he found a much shorter commute to work and a lot more overtime availability. With all of this hard work under our belts, we met with a new financial advisor who has helped us to prepare better for the future and to refinance our home.
FRIENDS
We feel we are abundantly blessed with extremely good friends and are truly thankful for those relationships and companionship. Besides our frequent trips to Mi Ranchito with Nic & Rachele, we have been fortunate to enjoy many other great cuisines with friends throughout the year. My sister and I made a trip out to Tampa to visit with our oldest childhood friends Kim and Nikki. Steve & Angie built a beautiful new house and got married over the summer. We spent a rainy evening at the John Mayer concert with Doug & Amy. Jason & Lindsay come up from Alabama and spent a weekend with us. After three years, we finally had the chance to catch up with our friends Tony & Nicole and Nadene. Our circle of friends continued to grow as we attended a block party and got to meet many of the other people in our subdivision and became better friends with our neighbors Sean & Karin. Many of our friends welcomed new children into the world. Jen & Nathan now have a beautiful daughter, Gretchen. John & Robin have a beautiful son, Jack. Sarah & Jason were blessed with their little girl Cheyenne. And Dave & Janet just welcomed their little boy, Maxx. Matt & Tracy are expecting their first baby in March, Rich & Cindy are expecting a baby boy in April, and my cousin Jim and his wife Julie will be giving their son Jeffrey a new brother or sister in March. Our friends Christen & Mark welcomed a new puppy, Niko! Speaking of puppies, Kristin & Brandon have adopted a second puppy, Nike to be brothers with their golden retriever Hunter. And after losing their schnauzer Max, our friends Donna & Brandon brought home a new puppy named Murphy. We were blessed to have the opportunity to go to Florida and spend time with our friends Joe & Teresa and their amazing and beautiful daughter, Payton. On our way down, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner and night out with great friends Mark & Cindy in Georgia. We were lucky to see the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular with Fred & Cheryl and their family this Christmas. My friend and college roommate, Stephanie moved back to Chicago and started a wonderful new job working with special needs children. Beth passed the bar exam and started her work as a lawyer. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful and supportive friends who are so fun to be with. We always enjoy ourselves when we are in your company and we truly wish you all the best in 2009.
FAMILY
We were sad to lose Grandma Mary, Aunt Peggy and Uncle Jerry this year and hope that they are in a better place now. We were happy for the many wonderful things that happened for our families this year. Lisa bought her first house! Andrea & Pavel tied the knot! My mom celebrated her 50th birthday! We had a huge surprise party for Diana’s 60th birthday! Grandma B celebrated her 75th birthday and Grandma L celebrated her 80th! Dennis’s Uncle Dan & Aunt Bev came up from TX to visit along with his cousin Laura and her husband Jay and their 2 daughters. Emily received a promotion and is moving to Denver in January! Liz & Matt got engaged and will be celebrating their wedding in October. Dad & Diana have finally set a date for their wedding, April 4, 2009! Andrea & Pavel got a new puppy, Taz and Rick & Sonya got a new puppy, Lucy! Shelley moved into a new house and both Nathan and Tony are now in Catholic school full time! Traci & Adam bought a new house too! Greg & Linda have continued to be the best brother and sister-in-law you could ask for. Ray has gotten some medical issues taken care of and is now in much better spirits. Kenny has advanced his rank in the military and is continuing to serve our country on the John C Steinis aircraft carrier. Mark has gone back to school and is doing well and has introduced us to his new girlfriend Angela. We are so happy to have such a large family and hope that our family continues to grow!
US
We celebrated my 27th birthday in February with our annual trip to the Grand Geneva resort in WI. Dennis’s 31st birthday was in June and we celebrated with a pool party in our new back yard, complete with a privacy fence and an awesome deck. We did our fare share of motorcycle riding with our biggest trip being to Champaign and our worst injury being an enormous bee sting! We went to both White Sox and Bears games this year. We upgraded some of our hobbies with a great new fish tank in my office, an awesome new work computer for me (that Dennis is totally jealous of), and endless nights of video games and guitar hero. Dennis had his first jury duty experience, which he surprisingly loved! We took a few weekend trips to MI with our parents and siblings. We celebrated our 2nd anniversary in May and discovered a new favorite restaurant, “The Melting Pot”. The struggle to have a baby has been the most significant thing in our lives and it has continued. After almost 18 months of trying and no luck, we were overjoyed to learn that we were pregnant in October, but incredibly saddened with a miscarriage in November. Although it was just 7 weeks along, we had already been to Babies R Us and put together plans to finish the basement to make room for a much anticipated family. While it was a hard thing for us to go through, we now know we are more than ready to start a family and we were extremely happy to learn we could get pregnant without the help of fertility treatments. We are looking forward to 2009 with much hope that this will finally be our year to have a baby.
VETS & PETS
Not a month goes by that I am not overly thankful for pet insurance. All of our dogs have been to the vet a couple of times this year. The consensus is that Rusty is great but could lose a little weight. Belfry just keeps on ticking at the ripe age of 13 and besides a few ear infections she has been getting along pretty darn well. BamBam has unfortunately experienced a lot of problems this year needing surgery over the summer. Ultimately we discovered that he has a severe heart murmur and needs to be on medication for the rest of his life. He still is acting happy and energetic each day and luckily the vet says that he is not in any pain. Our little dogs bring a lot of unconditional love into our lives. Call us crazy, but we love them to pieces!
WRAPPING UP THE YEAR….
I have been thoroughly enjoying my iPhone, which is probably the best thing I have bought this year! (Much more fun than new tires for the truck or brakes on the car!). As 2008 closes, I am reminded of the many afternoons spent in the basement during tornado warnings, the Sex and the City movie, lazy afternoons spent in the pool with our nephews, what a bummer it was to find out we owed thousands of dollars in tax money and how “fun” it was to pay it back to the government with fines and penalties, learning how to post videos on my blog, watching Dennis leave to work hundreds of hours of overtime in the middle of the night, presidential debates, the Beecher holiday house-walk, my annual outing to Long Grove with Christen and Lisa, and laying in some stranger’s front lawn with Dennis to watch the 4th of July fireworks. As the year closes, I can say that I am happy. I am grateful. And I am ready for 2009.
We wish all of you a very wonderful, healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!
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