The Aria Update

I cannot believe it has been almost a year since I last posted. I thought maybe I was behind by a few months.  Hawaii is magical. An agreed upon statement by anyone who has ever been there. Birds walk and fly freely around the island, including inside of the airport, restaurants, hotel lobbies etc. Beautiful birds. The water is warm and salty. Swimming in in felt like a spa treatment. At some of the beaches the sand was almost as fine as flour. Freia joined us on this trip and we got the special experience of swimming with sea turtles in the ocean!! We also snorkeled and saw some tropical fish, brain coral (as noted by Aria!), and sea urchins. We ate some amazing local food, and returned fully obsessed with the island.  Aria was incredibly brave, snorkeling in the ocean is not easy. The day we did it was cold and rainy. Sticking her face in cold ocean water that was way over her head, while trying to breath through a mask with waves pelting her from above! I think I would've b...

We tend to take pictures of happy moments or pretty things. When I looked through my photos to pick a picture that was going to match the tone of this post I couldn't find anything. I couldn't find anything that even matched the tone of this month. None of these pictures of Aria smiling or of the fun things we've done tell the whole picture. It has been a difficult year, for us and our whole (extended) family. Posting shiny pictures of us laughing and having a good time just doesn't feel right.  So while I share these recent memories, I hope you can live vicariously through some of the truly shiny ones (like our recent visit to the park) and maybe feel validated by the commiserate difficulty that comes with some that were not so shiny. Even when I am not with you, or calling or texting you, I am there with you and thinking of you all the time. You would probably be surprised by how often you cross my mind.  This is a picture of Aria at a Mariner's game with Sophie. ...

  Thank you to the donators for Aria's school's Color Run!! We raised $30,000 for her school!! The kids had a blast and the winners have yet to be announced but I believe she will win a prize! It was 85 DEGREES on the day of the run!! It was SO hot but the color water was ice cold from the hose and we had an ice cream truck and multiple water tables. I thought Aria was going to melt in the heat but she ran 7 laps! I was an organizer for this event, which consumed much of my time over the last two months. There are so many details that go into planning an event like this that you would never think about from being a participant. Let me tell you - it was WELL WORTH IT!! The feeling of satisfaction I got from making that event happen for her and her school was amazing. This was the first major school event that her school has had in 3 years because of Covid.  I have a lot of empathy for parents who had school-age kids during Covid shutdowns. It is pretty heartbreaking now that I...