Duluth Swim Meet

One of the highlights of being involved in the YMCA Swim Team for Jonah and Toby is the annual January swim meet in Duluth, which was this weekend.

 
We were able to enjoy Canal Park and the harbor, thanks to unseasonably warm weather, and we walked around, watch the Duluth Curling Club, and had dinner with friends. 

Saturday night after the meet, the team had a pizza buffet and awards ceremony.  The boys enjoyed hanging out with swim team buddies and spent HOURS in the hotel pool! (They obviously did not get enough swimming at the meet.)  The parents got to chat with some of the other swim moms and dads which was fun as well.

Coach PJ picked Toby up and held him up and said, "This is Toby, who set out to master the butterfly, which he has done."

Jonah at Awards Ceremony

 Oh, yes, and the boys swam well also.  They loved wrapping up in their new swim bathrobes (thanks, Aunt Debbie!)

20 Years Ago

Twenty years ago today, I married my best friend.  

(and yes, in case anyone is trying to do the math, we were 6 when we got married!)

What adventures we have been through together!  Joys, sorrow, stormy times as well as sunny: and I would not have wanted to navigate the warp and weave of these past 20 years with anyone else!

Twenty years ago, our younger student selves were most concerned about papers and tests and finding jobs that would pay our (cheap!) rent.  Perhaps in another twenty years, the things we worry about today will seem that easy.

The family we've built, the trials and errors (and sometimes getting things right), the values we've developed, and the communities we've become part of, have all been part of our journey together.

Twenty years later it's safe to say we're both less idealistic and no longer the starry-eyed newlyweds we once were.  We are, however, more realistic, better able to communicate, better able to weather the storms of life.

This journey has not always been easy, but it's always been ours.  I cannot imagine sharing the memories of the past twenty years with anyone else!

Happy Anniversary, Ken!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!