We really know how to bring in the New Year around here.  It’s the anniversary of when Chris and I met on New Year’s Eve 2000. The next day on New Year’s is when he asked me if he could call me.  I nonchalantly said “yes” but inside I was dancing a jig.  We had a pretty whirlwind romance. Engaged 11 months later, married 4 months after that.  I’m impatient and was getting older. I was ready to get the show on the road.  Plus, I knew he was the one. I had made a list after all and he met all the criteria. This year was the 14th anniversary of all that grand stuff, but we really haven’t placed a lot of emphasis on celebrating.  It turns out one of the items on my list was “someone who likes to be outdoors” and God wasn’t playing around when he gave me a hunter and fisherman.  Apparently the best time to kill deer is in the winter and the best time to take long hunting trips is right after Christmas through New Year’s Day.  So, we don’t get all mushy and have special dates and hold each other until midnight.  Nope, it’s more like a phone call before I go to sleep, when we find ourselves exchanging reports on animal sightings and deer scat (from him) and kid shenanigans (from me) then ending with a few seconds of “remember that New Year’s Eve when I asked to borrow your jacket and told you it smelled like a boy?”

So when we found out that Parker, our 5 year old, needed to have his tonsils and adenoids removed and that the closest day the surgeon could do it was New Year’s Eve, we decided to take a beneficial insurance move and go ahead and schedule it. Most of the time in a 7 person, 1 income family practicality trumps grand plans we may have.  So Chris gave up some hunting time and I gave up some child-free organization time that my parents usually give me that week and Parker gave up his tonsils and adenoids.

All went well. Those first 8 days and nights post-surgery are painful and long but he’s almost back to normal now.