Filed under: life
A 2008 wrap-up seems appropriate.
First, though, some housekeeping: I’ve deleted the link to this blog from Facebook. I did this because it seems like one of the very disappointing things about 2008 was that my opinions that I post on this blog served to drive a wedge between some acquaintances and friendships. That is odd for me because I’m very much used to a large chunk of long-time friends having opposite, and sometimes passionate differences of opinion than me. I can’t count the number of spirited debates I’ve had with friends whom I love deeply – we just disagree on the stuff we hear/read about in the news. Honestly, I would not enjoy having friends whom only agreed with me on everything.
So… all that aside, 2008 had a few things to it:
- D&A Design became my and Andrea’s full-time, 100% self-employed jobs. We took no money from a bank. We were totally sustained by faith, and some of the more challenging seasons we encountered were closed with tears of thankfulness to our God whom provides in spite of us. I love what I do.
- Garrett became a toddler. A year ago today he would have been 3 months old. It’s pretty cool how FAST he has developed! Seriously – “baby” stage only lasts like 6-8 months, if that. I encourage my friends who will be new parents in ‘09 to do what I did and savor every moment, and kick to the curb all expectations that outside influences might have on you. Parenthood is amazing. I love it.
- We put our house up for sale! Being a new parent… starting a business… stress? What stress? Why not add selling a home to the mix?! Sounded like fun, but we put it up in August, and the sign is still out in our yard. But… it’s very over-priced, and we know it. We don’t have to move, so right now we’re in wish-list mode. I can’t quite sense if ‘09 is the year we sell. Sure would like it to be.
- Friendships. What can I say here that would be remotely sufficient? Reconnecting with pals on Facebook and Linkedin is nice and all, but nothing beats an in-person friendship – community. That is what we have in our house church. Our commitment to each other is really more than friendships, but that’s the closest word I can use right now to describe it.
- A simpler life. We sold one of our 2 vehicles. We recycle a lot of stuff. We use Craigslist and Freecycle as much as we can, as well as secondhand shops. Our meals are simpler, our days are simpler, and it’s just nice to not have an existence with lots of “stuff” injected meaninglessly into it.
- Football is losing its luster to me. For a while I was really in to football and baseball. This year, though, I don’t think I watched a single football game the whole way through. For lots of reasons, football is just losing its shine with me. Still love baseball and can’t wait for catchers and pitchers to report. Go Cubs Go!
Lots more, but hey… it’s 4 days into 2009… time to move on.
Speaking of 2009, I am looking for a few things to go down: Sell the house and move to Anderson Township… Land some new big-ish accounts for D&A Design… hire a part-time employee for D&A Design… Garrett learns to talk… Answers for Andrea’s leg issues… Deeper friendships and new friendships… and maybe, just maybe, getting Andrea knocked up for kiddo #2.
We shall see…
