Oy.
So as I sit here in front of my blog for the first time in nearly 3 months, I have mixed emotions. I've been completely resigned from my previously diligent daily scribbling here, a point I didn't intentionally make, but it happened. It'll be to my own chagrin when I try and look back at my activity on a specific day, but hey, whatever.. :)
I turned 31 on Sunday. That carves the first full year of my 30's in stone, and had I in my teen years set any idea of what I believed my 30's would be, I'm not sure this would've been it. A lot has happened since the last time I sat down at a computer outside of my day job. I've not penned a memo here since August; that means nothing to what small, general audience bothers to come here, but I realized that this blog has become my crutch for determining exactly what I did or where I was on any given date within the past 3-4 years. This is, after all, a journal of sorts.
So as I reach back into the past 3 months in an effort to chronicle the memorable moments, what I managed to find looks a bit like this:
[[august2015]]
* We celebrated birthdays of family and friends: My father - the staple of our family. Shayne - a friend we met serendipitously along with his wife in Jamaica. My cousin Maricor - one of my first and truest best friends. * Just in time for a new school year, Sydni lost her first tooth and we had the first visit from the tooth fairy! She's a lucky kid; the tooth fairy's in an economic hotspot; that $2 reward is a far cry from the fare we as 90's kids saw ;).
* Sydni started first grade. It was a momentous day for her, and an emotional one for us. We're entrenched in another year of intellectual and social development, wishing all the while that time would slow down and we could relish the drooly, babbly wobbly-legged darling that has somehow began blossoming into a spunky, unique, charismatic and compassionate child who has a budding social circle and homework.
* We visited our families in their separate cities, each a handful of times. Our parents, family and friends laughed and fellowshipped around dinner tables and living rooms, parks and bandstands. We visited new landmarks, listened to live music and put miles upon miles on our cars to make sure we enjoyed it with those family members and friends.
[[september2015]]
* Day 1: Sydni turned 6. It was a hilariously bittersweet task executing a DIY monogrammed shirt for her to wear to school in celebration. We listened to her recount the experiences of her birthday from school, her dad's house, her friends. We played games, shared a special night out and tore through wrapping paper to discover wishlist birthday items. I'm amazed by her compassion and selflessness as she shares her hope to give her old toys to kids who don't have any, so she can enjoy her new inventory - but in moderation. * Buffalo Wabs & the Price Hill Hustle, a Cincinnati-based folk band, played a free concert in my hometown. My parents, my sister, my fiancé, daughter and I danced and laughed a night away.
* My company attended the annual corporate gathering: Sales Summit. My office's FOC and Owner had their first Sales Summit experience. I saw, fellowshipped with and learned alongside familiar faces from past offices, and celebrated change with the faces of leadership I've followed that have led me to where I am now, nearly 7 years into this job.
* There were date nights with Rob, outings with friends, movies seen and outings completed.
* We joined a new life group with some folks from our church, and immediately started feeling the benefit of community with a refreshing group of people!
* Fall officially began, and ushers in the expected though unseen hints of crisper weather, fire-infused leaves, and everything pumpkin-spiced (okay, maybe that part was seen, though wished to stay unseen, haha...)
[[october2015]]
* A new staffing consultant finally joined our team, after months of delegating the duties of the desk in a circle that started and began on the same desk - mine. Krista was an answer to prayer, and proved to be the influence and presence that was so desperately needed. * My beloved Subie wound up in the care of Rob's team of autofacelift experts. Goodbye, blemishless insurance, but hellloooo wrx facelift! ;)
* My family attended the Ohio Renaissance Festival, in full medieval attire, to fulfill our commitment of making this outing an annual tradition.
* Marianne and Damanji rendezvoused in Cincinnati separately, in a chance of good timing. Having two of my dearest out-of-town friends gather with me here, joining forces with Rob and Becky in a weekend Cincinnati take-over was just a short couple of days, but a refueling that was much needed. Mariane and I took a day's worth of timeout to venture off the grid into a trail matrix, and managed to find coffee and music on the other end.
* I let Olivier at Beelistic scribe ink into my back along lines that comprise a mountainscape scene on my back: my 3rd tattoo.
* Halloween arrives in the form of office-appropriate costumes, followed by a weekend in Mt. Vernon: trick-or-treating with Sydni, chopping & stacking wood and enjoying the sights of mentors imparting the gift of rhythm, carpentry, literacy and fine motor skills to my daughter.
[[november2015]]
* It's decided against our highest hopes that the office staff will be again reduced to a roster of 3. Growing pains that have festered unaddressed for weeks finally reach a boiling point, and in an emotional culmination of honesty and determination to accomplish the same common goal, a new course of action: attitude, drive and desire for compromise was birthed and thrown in motion. * I obliged an invitation to serve another year as a volunteer judge for the Distinguished Young Woman scholarship. I'm continuously amazed by the talent and vision of these girls - high school seniors, and am renewed through every experience that with the right influences and involvement, my own daughter will have a chance to excel as a person, an athlete, a musician, an artist, a scholar, a humanitarian, or whatever other or combined realization of her own potential she sees fit to follow.
* Kaitlyn joined the office staff as the newest staffing consultant, and a hopeful final addition (for now).
* Thanksgiving weekend provided a very much needed departure from the daily work grind, and allowed us an extended opportunity to visit our St. Louis area family and friends.
* More birthdays are celebrated: Nikki, Clark - hometown, highschool friends - one of them 19 days older, and the other 9 days my elder. My cousin Caridel and our friend Matt, both of whom had Thanksgiving Day birthdays this year. My beautiful friend Brittany, with whom I'll stand during her wedding next year, and her in mine.
* I share in the birthday streak, and turn the page of 30 to land on 31. I am now wholly immersed in my 30's, and blessed to have ushered it in in the company of some incredible friends and family.
I realized also in the past 48 hours that not only have I launched into the meat of my 30's, I will have celebrated that, along with this year's Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years as my last.... as a Drenning! I can't help but look forward to this time next year, when another band is added to my ring finger and my last name migrates to the other end of the alphabet, that I will then be married to the man who has managed to bring me so far from the place I was before I rediscovered the confidence to take advantage of my blessings rather than allow the shortcomings to take me. I owe him more than he'll ever know, and the thought of becoming his wife is the one thing that excites me as the rest of time whizzes right by us without much other thought.
I am here, though. Future me is going to reflect on this entry and remember the times of change, adjustment, busy schedules, road trips and landmark events, but probably not the fact that I skipped out on blogging them every single day.
It is now DECEMBER [holy crap!]
Even just sitting here now typing this up has renewed my spirit of journaling, blogging, chronicling, whatever it is I call this caboodle of thought that winds up on my blog. I don't do this for you, my dear audience [although I love you, don't get me wrong!]; it's tough to keep the pen sharp and step outside of my limited daily vocabulary if I don't actively do it.
[[december2015]]
* So, dear December, I'm imploring you to be the satisfying zenith to 2015, and usher in this next year with a smile, if you don't mind :).This time next year, I'll be a married gal. Sydni will be 7. Who knows what the year will hold, but I am hopeful that through the mountains and valleys (& everything in between!) that I'm sure this next year will hold, I'm already praying for grace and gratitude to absorb whatever comes down the line.
Happy December, blogbots! It feels great to be back. Maybe I'll take to sharing some imagery from the past couple months once I sort through the hoards of pictures I've got, too.
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| 31, & feelin' great! |
♥♥♥!
xo | cmd
