Well, the old year is gone – good riddance – and the new year is slowly settling over us. I was definitely glad to see the end of 2016 from a global citizen perspective. (Although I have to agree with Kerry that anyone who thinks 2017 is going to be less stressful than 2016, from that global perspective, is in for a rude awakening.) But from a personal perspective, 2016 was decently good to me. Not perfect, but good. I started the year stressed and unhappy where I was (location-wise and job-wise) and I was able to make a major life change midway through the year – moving back to D.C. – that solved those issues for me. I felt very blessed that such a move was an option for my family, and we are very glad to be home. D.C. isn’t a perfect city, but it’s my place, where my people are.
Resolution Recap
The move was the biggest deal of 2016 for me. It was sort of the fulcrum point, the pivot from which everything swung. Everything leading up to July was getting ready for this major change, and everything after that was adjusting to being home again and soaking it all in, and starting to put in place the systems for making this new life work for our family. Because of that singular purpose and focus, I didn’t actually spend much time or energy on my other resolutions. Yet when I look back on them, I at least made progress on several points.
- Get my confidence back. This, I can’t say was one of the areas where I made progress. With the day to day challenges of raising two kids while working as an attorney, my own personal well-being took too much of a backseat this year. I ran a few 5K races, but I was undertrained for them, I relied too much on convenience food and eating out, and I was abysmal at coping with stress. I’ll be revisiting this goal in 2017 with hopes for more success now that I am not job searching, secretly flying to D.C. multiple times per month, looking for child care and arranging a multiple part, multiple state move.
Be a good memory keeper. I think I can say that I have done this. I always have more memory-keeping projects in mind than I have time for, but in 2016 I created my 2015 family yearbook, Nugget’s baby yearbook, and several other projects using my photographs. And I posted a lot about our family adventures here on the blog. I love the process of organizing and preserving family memories, so it’s not hard to stick to this goal.Challenge my bookshelves. I definitely did this. Although I did not finish Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge, and I did not read as many classics as I wanted to, I well exceeded my goal of 33% representation by diverse voices in my 2016 reading. I haven’t crunched the numbers yet, so I don’t know exactly how it finished out, but I made diversity a major focus of my reading this year. I’ll have more to say on that when I post my look back at the books of 2016, but – briefly, for purposes of this post – it was wonderful. Having the benefit of so many different perspectives and worldviews challenged my own thought process, crystallized my thinking on a number of important issues, and gave me even more satisfaction than I expected.Embrace slow. I started the year not really knowing what this goal meant, and I’m ending it still not knowing what it meant. In some ways, I feel like I have really succeeded, but in other ways I think I was a giant failure. Long, leisurely afternoons of knitting and listening to audiobooks, mornings with a cup of steaming hot tea and a good book, dawdling walks along the river, evenings of cooking big pots of homemade soup in my kitchen while music plays in the background – this has not happened. But to be fair, I didn’t think it would. What has happened? Lots of weekend mornings where I sit with my coffee while my kids play together (finally!). A slow-paced beach vacation with zero pressure to sightsee. A string of hot weekend mornings sitting in the grass while the kiddos dug with trucks in the sandbox at our local park, last summer. Weekly walks to the library – both in Buffalo and in Alexandria – to return books and pick up holds (instead of flying past on my way to or from work, like I used to do). Another sun-drenched morning spent at the berry patch with good friends, not actually picking berries. Many, many evenings of ignoring the dishes piled in the sink and the boxes still to be unpacked and instead curling up with a book. In the end, what this goal looked like was giving myself a little grace, permission to exhale, and a moment in the sun.- Write something off blog. Heh. Didn’t do it. Not even a little bit.
2016 Word: HOME
Last January, I wrote:
We’re preparing to (yet again) move at the end of this month, and as of the writing of this blog post we don’t know where we’re going. (We should probably get on that.) But aside from just the mere shell of a house, we really need to find a home. I haven’t felt at home – really, truly, at home, at peace, at rest – since the moment I pulled out of my driveway in Virginia and turned my car northwards. I don’t know what to do with, or about, that, but it’s the truth. I still feel like a Virginian stranded above the Mason-Dixon line. I’m constantly homesick for Old Dominion. And the fact is – I need to sort out what “home” means to me, and find some way to be at peace no matter where we live.
A few months ago, I told you all about how my 2016 word of the year, home, chose me. I remember the exact spot in the parking garage where I was when it popped unbidden into my head – and I knew exactly what that word was telling me. Move to Virginia.
I did just that.
I’d thought it was a perfect word for the year, and for where I needed to go, even if the move didn’t happen. In December of 2015, things were still very much up in the air as to whether we would stay in Buffalo and change the things that weren’t working for us; or move home to northern Virginia; or take on a brand-new adventure and move to Denver. We were actively exploring all three possibilities. And I knew that whatever we decided on – that was it. The last big move. We were choosing a home for our family. I wanted my word to guide that process, at least for me.
And it did. I started the year packing my life into boxes, most of which were destined for storage. We moved into a rather bleak apartment complex (a relief, after having several lodging options fall through at the last minute, leaving us with no lease just three weeks before our sale closed). Even knowing that the living situation was only temporary, it was easy to get a bit beaten down by an apartment that wouldn’t stay tidy and wasn’t where we wanted to be. I kept my word, “home,” in mind each day as I turned my key and tripped over the piles of shoes that were always spilling down the stairs just inside the door, whispering the mantra, thank you, apartment, for sheltering my family while we figure out where our future is. And then the call came through, and I knew that my word would, in fact, carry me home.
I also wanted my word to do something smaller. No matter where we ended up, I wanted a constant reminder that it is my responsibility to create the sanctuary I crave – I can’t put that on anyone else. Whether that means hanging special family photos; filling my kitchen with the smells of Earl Grey brewing; lining my shelves with the books that have been good friends to me; creating sweet play spaces for my children; or anything else that I want – it’s up to me. I hoped my word, home, would keep me focused on the goal I always have to create a place of rest for myself and my family. I didn’t do quite as well on this point – I’m still living with boxes, although I am gradually chipping away at the unpacking remaining to be done. I’ll carry this focus into 2017 with me.
As the sun goes down on 2016 and rises on 2017, I want to know – how did last year go in your life?
Saga, Volume 6, by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples – The most recent trade paperback installment of Saga found our heroes, Marko and Alana, reunited with each other but separated from their daughter Hazel and her grandmother, who are imprisoned on Landfall. The story alternates between their efforts to get her back with her own experiences in the prison. The end is both sad and hopeful – par for the course with Saga. I’m still really enjoying this comic series and looking forward to seeing what happens next.
Another Brooklyn, by Jacqueline Woodson – Woodson’s newest book is her first for adults in awhile. In it, she explores the relationship between August, the narrator, and her three friends over the course of their youth in 1970s Brooklyn. It’s a hardscrabble coming-of-age story, beautifully written – as always with Woodson – and ultimately hopeful. I still loved Woodson’s memoir in verse, Brown Girl Dreaming, the best – but Another Brooklyn is a wonderful addition to her bibliography.
A Countess Below Stairs, by Eva Ibbotson – After a few intense reads in a row, I was really looking for something fluffy, and A Countess Below Stairs (also published with the alternate title The Secret Countess) fit the bill perfectly. It was light, frothy, and utterly predictable in a completely delightful way. Anna is Russian aristocracy who has been displaced, along with her mother, brother and faithful English governess, by the Bolsehvik revolution. Seeking to earn her way, she takes a temporary job as a housemaid in an English great house and – of course! – falls in love with the young Earl. There are a few problems standing in their way: Anna is impoverished and so, pretty much, is the Earl; plus, he’s engaged to an heiress (who is astoundingly beautiful and heinously awful). But Anna is basically a Disney princess – really, I think little birds help her on with her housemaid’s uniform every morning – so you know everything is going to work out just fine. I guessed how it would all turn out before I was a quarter done with the book, and I still loved every second.
Fables, Volume 7: Arabian Nights (And Days), by Bill Willingham – In the seventh trade volume of Fables, the Eastern version of the Fables arrive from their own version of the Homelands, bringing with them a djinn and a lot of trouble. Flycatcher creates an international incident, Boy Blue is still imprisoned, Prince Charming is hating life as Fabletown’s new mayor, and the Beast is settling into his role as sheriff. It’s a fun addition to the series, and Frau Totenkinder continues to be totes awesome.
Bloodline, by Claudia Gray – This newly released addition to the Star Wars canon focuses on Princess Leia’s political career as a Senator in the New Republic. The Senate is fracturing at the seams, divided between Populists (who want the individual planets to have ample freedom) and Centrists (agitating for a stronger central government). Leia is the most well-known Populist, but she has to join forces with a Centrist Senator to investigate an upstart crime cartel in a distant system. As Leia and her new ally cautiously explore the hornet’s nest outside the New Republic, it soon becomes clear that the crime cartel is connected to something more sinister – the rise of the First Order. This was a great addition to the canon and I loved reading about Leia in her element as a politician. Of course, I’m saddened by the cover now that we have lost the great Carrie Fisher – but reading Bloodline (which I did earlier in the month, before her heart attack) seems like a good way to celebrate her life and her most famous role.
Angels and Demons (Robert Langdon #1), by Dan Brown – I’d been meaning to read more of Dan Brown’s books; the only one I had read so far was The Da Vinci Code (everyone has read that one, right?). Angels and Demons was about as ridiculous as you would expect it to be, and I had way too much fun reading it. It took me right back to a Thanksgiving many moons ago, when my extended family got into a knock-down, drag-out fight about which Dan Brown book was more likely to be true: Angels and Demons or The Da Vinci Code. That is a thing that actually happened.
Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St. Mary’s #1), by Jodi Taylor – I read this on 
The Fox at the Manger, by P.L. Travers – Due to my excessive library stack (why does that always happen to me?) I wasn’t able to do much Christmas reading this month. But I did manage to squeeze in this very slim volume by P.L. Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins books, and it was delightful. A harried mother, taking her son and his two friends to a Christmas service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, is surprised when one of the children asks her if there were any wild animals present for the birth of Jesus. Mummy is prepared with a delightful tale of a fox who stops by the manger with a special gift for the newborn baby and a lesson for the domesticated animals who believe themselves to be the only beasts with a right to celebrate the Savior’s birth. Delightful.
Barkskins, by Annie Proulx – I had been waiting and waiting and waiting, more and more impatiently, for my copy of Barkskins to arrive on the library holds shelf. Annie Proulx’s new release (and magnum opus!) follows the descendants of two indentured servants who arrive in French Canada in the 1600s. Rene Sel remains with his master, marries (against his will) a local Native Canadian woman, and lives a hardscrabble life until it is somewhat gruesomely cut short. Charles Duquet runs away, makes his fortune trading furs, and ultimately establishes a logging business that lasts for many generations. The Sels and the Duquets – later Dukes – mix and mingle throughout history, utterly unconscious of the fact that the founders of both of their lines once shared a wooded cabin (very briefly). So, I was lukewarm on Barkskins after waiting so long. The writing was wonderful and the scope of the story was impressive – but at over 700 pages, the book was too long. It was clear that, by about 100 pages from the end, even Proulx herself was exhausted by these people. A good pick for anyone with lots of time on their hands or an avid interest in lumberjacks – but I have neither of those things and I couldn’t help thinking how many other books I could be reading instead.
Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History – Without the Fairy Tale Endings, by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie – This short and highly entertaining volume has been on my to-read list for ages, and I really enjoyed it. From Alfhild, the princess who (temporarily) took up piracy, to Margaret, the princess who caused a bank robbery, McRobbie explores the darker side of royalty, away from the Disney fantasy lands. Princesses posing nude, making romantic conquests, murdering family members, giving political advice, usurping their husbands and sons to rule in their own right, leading military coups and going insane – hopefully not all at once – what’s not to love?
Richard Madden as Godric Gryffindor – This was the MuggleCast suggestion, and I’m sticking with it because I think it’s perfect. And not just because Richard Madden is nice to look at (even though he is). I loved him as headstrong, swashbuckling Robb Stark in Game of Thrones (and secretly preferred Robb to Jon Snow even though I know that Jon Snow is everyone else’s favorite). I could see Richard Madden playing a Gryffindor who is very, very set on doing right by the wizarding community, but who gets a bit sidetracked and distracted by adventures from time to time, and who also digs in and refuses to consider other points of view. Perhaps that’s what leads to the famous break with Slytherin? I’d like to see how Madden would play that.
Michelle Dockery as Rowena Ravenclaw – This is the most important piece of casting, in my opinion. As a proud Ravenclaw, I would be very, very committed to getting the right actress to play the founder of my house, and I can’t think of anyone better than Michelle Dockery. Ravenclaws are known for being bookish and cerebral, and valuing logic and intellect almost above all else. Dockery’s cool demeanor makes her the perfect Ravenclaw from my standpoint. Plus, and this is key, she is LADY MARY YOU GUYS and OMG I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LADY MARY.
Claire Foy as Helga Hufflepuff – I actually had a hard time dream-casting Hufflepuff. The ideal Hufflepuff is someone who can play kind, inclusive, warm and generous with a core of steel. My first thought went to Laura Carmichael, but I just couldn’t bring myself to dream-cast all Downton Abbey residents (keep reading) in every part except for Gryffindor, so I started thinking of other British actresses I like who might make a good Hufflepuff – and that was when I hit on the perfect name. I only recently became aware of Claire Foy after watching her completely steal the show as Anne Boleyn in the BBC production of Wolf Hall (which, if you haven’t seen it yet, RUN and buy the BluRay – it’s amazing). Now Steve and I are watching her dominate another cast as Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s The Crown. It’s hard to imagine two English queens more different than Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth II, but Claire Foy plays each of them perfectly and I seriously cannot get enough of her. My only concern with casting her as Hufflepuff would be whether it would be fair to the rest of the cast, because Claire Foy’s awesomeness will not be denied and I would absolutely expect her to run away with this production, too.
Allen Leech as Salazar Slytherin – This was a really tough casting call, you guys. Before casting Slytherin I would have to know the answer to an important preliminary question, which I posed above: is Slytherin pure evil, a straight-up baddie, or is there more to him than that? If Slytherin is a complex character, with his faults but not completely to blame for the break with Gryffindor and the other founders (i.e. if Gryffindor played a role in that falling-out), if he’s a more human character than just an evil, wizard-supremacist precursor to Voldemort, then I would want Allen Leech any day of the week and twice on Sunday. But if he’s just pure evil, then I wouldn’t want to see my beloved Tom Branson in that role. (Lady Sybil would never fall for a pre-Voldemort!) I think Allen Leech could play a really interesting complex, brooding Slytherin, though. So I’m casting him tentatively, but reserving the right to revise my casting decision if Jo makes him a more simple character (which I will leave to her discretion). (I’m including his picture here because I like looking at it, so there.) All other casting decisions are, however, set in stone.
covered in flour 