Hello, there! I am not really sure if anyone IS there, but here goes...
I've been off of Facebook for over a year now! Well, just about. I made an exception to go on to promote a GoFundMe for my youngest sister but didn't actively use Facebook, so I still think it counts as a year! Here's some of what's happened over the last 12 months:
1. Reading. Lots and lots of books. My goal for 2017 is 33 books. I have been stuck on #22 for about 5 weeks now. Not loving it, but it is the final book in a trilogy so I feel committed.
2. Yoga and meditation. Not as much as I'd like, but more than I ever did previously. Still stupidly doing my "Restoring Fertility" dvd that I bought back on 2012 before we had our daughter. I like that it is gentle and goes along with where you are in your cycle...even though it hasn't restored my fertility. Boo. I bought a meditation cushion back in November and it is fantastic. I think it helps me get in the meditation mindset more than sitting on random pillows or cushions from around the house.
3. Learning calligraphy! I did calligraphy for one of my sister's weddings last December and treated myself to a 4-hour calligraphy class in January. The plan for the future is to have my own calligraphy business starting in 2018! My daughter will be in preschool starting this September and my daycare kiddo will be starting a new place sometime between October and February. I adore the little girl and her parents...she is actually the little sister of the baby I watched in 2015 who unexpectedly passed away 3 weeks after I finished doing daycare for her. I committed to watching her for a year (which would mean October) but have told her parents that I can be flexible so they can get their daughter into the place they like, which has a bit of a waiting list. Once my daughter is in preschool, though, calligraphy is the plan.
4. Sending lots of cards and letters. On my first anniversary off of Facebook I attended a letter writers meet-up downtown. In the spirit of practicing calligraphy I have been sending lots of mail to family and friends. And I've started collecting unused vintage postal stamps to make stamp collages on my outgoing mail. It is so much fun! After the meet-up I joined the Letter Writers Alliance and am looking forward to getting some pen pals! It has been a long time since I've had pen pals (since middle school?) and I think it will be a delight. If you would like to receive a card/letter/postcard from me, please e-mail me your snailmail address at birdmeetsbee at gmail dot com and I would love to send something your way! And if you respond in kind I will always write back.
5. We had another early pregnancy loss in February. Almost exactly a year after the last one. It was sad and horrible and a nightmare but I recovered so much better than I did in 2016. I think my meditation and yoga practices made a huge difference for both my mental and physical health this time.
6. We have given away most of our baby-3T clothes and are in the process of getting things ready to sell our bigger baby gear (swing, chairs, etc) on Craigslist next month. I think it is a mixture of forced acceptance and just wanting our space to have fewer reminders of what could have been. Our wonderful, precocious, thoughtful daughter is almost 4.5 years old and it is looking like she will remain an only. We've casually looked into adoption, but the cost makes it seem out of reach right now. And fostering would be too hard emotionally on our daughter. She, and let's be honest...I, would become too attached to kids who most likely wouldn't get to stay.
7. We just booked a weekend away for our 10th wedding anniversary in August! I have ordered 2 swimsuits for the occasion and am pretty thrilled not to be wearing my sister's 9th grade gym class Speedo from 2000. I know, shameful. I have the situation remedied now (as long as at least one of them fits!).
