The best is yet to come

By Published On: January 7th, 2016

Can you believe it’s already 2016? The first few days […]

TA1Can you believe it’s already 2016? The first few days of the new year brought a chill to the air in Atlanta, and it started to finally feel like winter. Anaïs came back from her Florida vacation with the grandparents armed with a vocabulary that seems to have tripled in a week. Once all of us were reunited, we resumed life as a family of four.

It still makes me giddy with excitement when I say that: “family of four.” There’s something so solid in those three words. We are now two pairs of people in the same unit. And all we are moving forward together, yet we each have our own independent lives. Jesse and I are helping each other shape two little people to be upstanding kids (fingers crossed) who are happy, healthy and excited about the people they meet, the life they live and world they live in. We want them to have all the experiences we can give in the hopes that one day they are better for them.

I realized something not too long ago that made me a little sad. These children are growing up at a time in the world unlike anything we had ever experienced ourselves at their age. Some might argue that their lives have become more complex and complicated because of the time they live in.

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There is so much sadness that they have immediate access to witness, and I worry and fear that the weight of it all will be too heavy for them to carry as they grow up. I want to protect them and shield them from the atrocities being committed around them but know that there is nothing I can do but teach them and love them and hope that they appreciate the brevity of their lives.

So, moving forward, I resolve to make this year as happy for them and for our family as I possibly can. I have both big and small plans for us! Even though they’re still so little, I am a firm believer that they are never too young for adventure. And adventure can take many forms, whether it’s a simple walk in a new space or something as exciting as taking a trip on an airplane, I cannot wait to make it happen.

This year feels good. It feels fresh. It feels like the four of us are about to embark on something bigger than we had ever anticipated. This is the year Jesse and I will celebrate our second wedding anniversary, the year Anaïs will turn 4, the year she starts Pre-K and the year Akira will celebrate his first trip around the sun. It’s such a big year with so many milestones in each of our lives. On one hand, it’s bittersweet; all of these events are reminders that we are simply getting older. On the other hand, there is so much good that awaits us! And I’m so glad that we have so much to look forward to in the next 12 months.

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