Another year has come and gone! The highlights are often the vacations, this year we had two Caribbean cruises (a 4-night for Kara’s birthday and a 4-night over Spring Break). We also spent Thanksgiving week in Tennessee. And, there was a weekend trip with just the boys to see the Tigers play the Rays. All of that was amazing, but my favorite vacation this year was the 2-weeks we spent at home around Christmas and New Years. We didn’t travel anywhere and it was low-key and relaxing. I spent a lot of time reading, puzzling, and playing games and it was incredibly hard to go back to work. I even bought a lottery ticket in the hopes of making that my everyday reality, but alas, did not strike it rich.
Anna got her first job as a camp counselor at Elks. She did not like it. It was hard to be away from home and she struggled with the work ethic of some of her fellow counselors. She did love the kids and many other aspects of the job. She turned 18 in October and vacillates between wanting to be treated like an adult and reaping the benefits and low-responsibility life of childhood. Unfortunately, she doesn’t really enjoy her classes this year. She was accepted to several colleges but decided to stay home and attend the local community college. She is not sure what she wants to study and hopes to find something that strikes a passion. She did well on the SAT and has a high GPA, qualifying for Bright Futures, so by staying at home, she can get her associates degree for free.
Jack had a great year. He did amazing on the SAT, including a perfect score on English and an overall superscore of 1560. He only applied to the Florida state colleges (FSU, UF, UCF, and USF). He won’t hear from UF until next week but has gotten into the others with scholarship offers. I wish he had tried for some reach schools but I am also happy to have him closer to home. Right now, he is leaning toward attending FSU. He had fun being in the band and enjoyed his last marching season. He is still tutoring and is in a few clubs at school. He has lots of friends and seems to always have somewhere to be. He did not run cross-country this year but is maybe going to do track.
Kara also worked as a camp counselor. She loved it! She also loved making her own money, so much so that she got a job at Wawa. It has been a great first job. She only works about 8 hours a week (usually on Sunday mornings), which gives her spending money, but still allows her to keep up with her friends, schoolwork, and other activities. She enjoys playing lacrosse and is excited for the new season to start. She got her driver’s license and has been driving everywhere. She is doing great in school, despite taking 6 AP/AICE classes.
Luke started middle school. His longstanding baseball team disbanded. He is playing on another team, but they are a lot less experienced as a whole. However, the coaching is really good and we expect that Luke will grow as a player. He likes the coaches and the kids and their families all seem nice, so everyone is happy enough. He is taking piano and theater as his electives and enjoys both. He cleaned up at the 5th grade graduation ceremony, winning many academic awards.
Overall, the kids are doing well. I wish that they were closer friends with each other, especially the older ones. They are all in different friend groups and never include each other in activities with their friends. And, if one of them has friends over, the others seem to actively avoid the situation (except Luke). One of my brothers and I were a year apart in school and while we didn’t always hang out with each other, it wasn’t unusual for us to do so and many of our friends were mutual. Of course, we aren’t very close now, so maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all. But, it makes me sad to think of my kids growing up and not being close and with Jack leaving home soon, it is at the forefront of my mind right now.
Thomas and I are back in the office. It has been a very stressful year. I honestly believed I was going to lose my job and it was terrible to have that hanging over my head for 8ish months. As the most junior attorney in my office (even with 14.5 years of Government experience) I still don’t feel completely secure, but at least it feels less inevitable than it did last February. It was a crappy way to live, always feeling like any day could bring notice of unemployment. But, almost a year later, we both are still employed and for that I am thankful. Of course, I miss telework, but I am happy to have kept my job.
I think that about summarizes everyone in 2025. As always, I am most thankful that everyone is healthy and doing well. At the end of the day, that is all that really matters.
Favorite thing this year:
Thomas: TN trip
Kori: the two weeks of vacation around Christmas
Anna: TN trip
Jack: Spring Break (band trip and cruise)
Kara: TN trip
Luke: Spring Break cruise
Most looking forward to in 2026:
Thomas: seeing what happens with all the kids' big changes
Kori: hopefully 2 restful weeks of vacation in Dec/Jan
Anna: traveling
Jack: mountains
Kara: Spring Break cruise
Luke: finally trying Mardi Gras (cruise ship)
