There it was! The last 10 seconds of 2007………… With a glass of apple cider in hand I counted along…10, 9, sip, 7, 6, sip, 4, sip, sip, 1… Happy New Year!!!!!!.
Happy 2008! Happy leap year to that! Another 6 months of dating every check with 2007…or at your worst, the entire year. Then by the time you get the hang of 2008, it’s 2009! It’s a vicious cycle, but, who’s complaining, really?
Between my husband, my children, MILs, my grandchildren and my OS we have, as of last year, accumulated a total of 377 birthday years! We’re counting….
Between the doggies - Foofee, Pips and Booboo - they have 12 years altogether …. or 84 bark years …woof!
MD married her sweetheart. The memorable day was celebrated in pinks and browns. Gerberas and cosmos. Subtle sprays and topiaries. Everything else was like falling head over heels in love. Like icing to a cake, they also moved in to their new condo. In the summer they announced they were pregnant. We were so excited for them and looked forward to the day. However, our little AM lived only for a short time. I planted some pink and lilac flowers in her memory. She will live in our hearts forever.
YD announced her company was laying-off people and she might lose her job – her first real job, she called it. Having gone through one myself, I was worried how she will take it. Well, not bad, it turned out. Armed with her hard-earned severance pay, she booked a 50-day tour of Europe with a renowned tour company! Way to go, Fally! Not long after, in about 2-3 months she announced she was starting on another job. It was a job she enjoyed doing but which did not last very long. Getting laid off for a second time didn’t bother her she said. I thought she was going to tell me she was leaving for Greece that time. Oooo-pah!
OD threw a party for her hubby at their house, turning her garage into a “party place” complete with round tables, bar stools, buffet and candy tables and an array of delicious dishes and cold drinks. Knowing what they have gone through the year before, it was indeed a celebration of life!
For Christmas 2006 gift we received an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii from OS, MD, MDH and Pips. When it came to actually booking our flight we were presented with a choice. Aloha? Ciao? Last spring MH and I arrived in Rome where we were met by our OS and his GF at the Aeroporto Leonardo da Vinci di Fiumicino. On a day trip to the “City of Water”, Venice, we saw our YD at a McDonald’s of all places! YD said that when she entered the restaurant she heard a familiar voice. She looked back to find out. Well, …. yea-aaah! It’s Mama! That’s amore!
I turned 51 this year. With the family in tow, we went to Salo-Salo where all the tables are never long enough and never wide enough to hold all the big platters of food you order! The only consolation is how every dish is so delicious all the time!
I went back to school in the fall to earn a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. …..Bite me! Although I must confess the laboratory segment triggers off the worst of my allergies. What to do?
When YD turned 26, we all made plans to go to Vegas. However, by the time the weekend came, the rest of us could no longer make it because of the uncertainties of the ongoing canyon fires in the county we live in. YD and her friends went by themselves to Vegas instead. I asked her to keep her eyes open for Barry. Unfortunately, there were no Barry sightings. Darn!!
The biggest surprise of the year was a surprise party for MDH for his 30th birthday. Boy, was he surrrrrrrrrr-prisssed! Nothing can be more surprising than getting surprised on your surprise birthday party! Yeah!
Of course there was the annual July 4th blast at the house which gets funner, happier and wilder every year. There is always much too much food, more than enough to feed an entire nation with still some left to be able to pack ”to go” bags for the entire clan.
Our family’s Christmas Eve dinner was, like all years past, magnificently delicious to the last bite. Opening gifts was a riot to the nth. Always!
What else? Well, I took up yoga. I still remember the teacher asking us towards the end of the first class to relax our minds and think of that one thing that makes us very happy and to “inhale” that thought inside our bodies. Well, the first thing that came to mind was Foofee. Sitting inside the car on the drive home triggered some sort of guilt in me because after all there’s my husband, my children, grandchildren to think of first! Getting home, I mentioned to Foofee how my sense of loyalty was put to a test. She looked me in the face with a “get over it” look.
From Foofee and I, happy new year! She wants me to sign up for another yoga class this year, make amends and start thinking of others! 
“A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” ~Author Unknown
