Haiti was on my mind all day today.  It’s hard to forget.  The devastation I fled a year ago this time – those concrete ruins I could not wait to escape are a daily reality for the people of Haiti.  It is hard to fathom the resiliency that is required of this nation’s people. An estimated 230,000 people were killed in the earthquake – many have not been unearthed or recorded. Only 5% of the rubble has been removed. 3,600 lives have been lost to cholera. 800,000 are living . . .

I was just drafting a post about this time last year – with the anniversary of the earthquake coming up, it’s hard not to reminisce.  I went to link the post of my half-marathon, and realized it was missing.  I had drafted up this post on my phone on the flight to Haiti on January 11th . . . and obviously this post got lost in the shuffle.  Anyways, one year later, here is the recap of my first (and hopefully not last) half marathon. Writing a race recap feels a lot like writing . . .

We are still in massive holiday hangover mode.  We’ve been home for four days and I’ve yet to unpack or open all the mail.  Vacations are a lot of work. Before we left, I was pretty stressed about the trip.  Our first plane ride with four kids would be followed by our first road-trip with four kids.  So in the week leading up to the trip, I did what I do when I’m stressed: I strategized and hyperfocused on minute details, to give myself the illusion of being in . . .

When I was a kid, we used to spend hours going down the staircase in a sleeping back when my mom wasn’t looking.  We don’t have a staircase, but the boys have managed to craft a luge out of one of their plastic toy bins. I think we’re all a bit ready for the weather to warm up so we can get back to playing outside . . . . . .

I continue in my 15 minutes of fame as the woman who loves/hates minivans, depending on where you’re reading. So controversial, I am!! It’s like a telephone game.  I made anti-minivan remarks!  I’m the woman who fell in love with the minivan!   (Um, no.)  I’m riding on the coattails of Rage Against the Machine and should be ashamed of myself! I think that my being quoted on any of this conversation is utterly amusing, especially because I could care less about . . .

All week long I’ve seen bloggers recapping their year with some of their favorite posts.  This sounded like a good idea, so I thought I would do it.  And then I sat down and thought about where to start.  January seemed like the obvious place.  I lived a lifetime in January of 2010. 2010 has been a hard year.  Brutally emotional, exhausting, fulfilling, and stressful.  When I pulled up my January posts, I winced at the first few . . . silly posts about the . . .

Today was my birthday.  I spent the entire day thinking that I was turning 37 today.  I gave quite a bit of thought about the fact that I am no longer mid-thirties.  I thought about how old 37 seemed, and how brief life was, and the ways I wanted to be different as I enter my LATE THIRTIES (dun dun DUNNNNN).  This age just really felt like a milestone. Around 11pm tonight, a friend pointed out that I am 36 today, not 37.  If I’m honest, I think that tops any birthday . . .