After seven months, I should probably say hello; how are you? Did 2023 turn out the way you thought it might? It feels rude to jump right into another family update without some acknowledgment of the time away. Should I make up excuses for why I’m not writing? We have been sprinting all year, and only this evening have I outlasted Kelly, Declan, and Maeve and find myself solely awake, at a reasonable hour, with the opportunity to write something. Only to realize that today — of course — was my mother’s birthday. Too late to call, a nearly-belated text will have to do.
I did visit, however, over the Thanksgiving holiday — the whole crew did. Where has been rolling on 8 wheels and tough to nail down for an extended season, but my parents finally sold their RV and settled down in Tucson, Arizona this year. My parents always have the same approach when they buy a new home, or RV, or the rentals we grew up in. A particular zip code isn’t home — but a set of handwritten recipes and an aesthetic is. Where we live, multi-million dollar wineries are built upon the tastebuds of a single wine maker. Home is built upon the tastes of the home maker. Framed over the Sherwin-Williams color palette are photos of times together. The nostalgia left behind is magic. Which reminds me: we haven’t hung any family photos on the walls of our new house. The one we haven’t told you about.
We closed and moved into our home on July 3rd, after two-weeks of living in hotels on the east coast. We tried to frame that part of the year up as a work trip + a vacation, but what it ended up being was entirely too long to live out of suitcases with two small children. So we moved into our new house and started sleeping on floor mattresses for months because we started the remodel right away and convinced ourselves to wait on furnishing the house so all of the projects could get done without moving furniture yet again. I’m not sure we were right.
But we do have a bed now. And for a while there, we all had the big bed — because of our kiddo’s sleep regression from living in a new place. They are warming up to their own beds again, for most of the night anyway.
And between the new house, and the remodel, and the new jobs for Kelly and I, and the new schools for Declan and Maeve, and the trips to Costco and swimming lessons, we are starting to settle in to — what we strongly hope — is a place we live for the next couple of decades. Just the other day as I drove Declan to Kindergarten he said to me, with complete relief, “Dad, Eugene is starting to feel like Newberg.”
Merry Christmas, everyone. May this season be one of rest and peace for you and your family like it is for ours. With 2024 on the horizon! What good trouble and good joy will we find ourselves in this coming year?
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith— to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Romans 16:25-27