What Is And What Should Never Be

I'll remember 2018 in yellow. The soft, reassuring winter beams, the joyous canary yellow of springtime gorse, washed in bright blazing sunlight, the golden summer evenings and the subtle shifts of nature settling into fall. It was our first full calendar year in Scotland, and so much of it was defined by the seasons.  We began with a literal bang at Hogmany then slowed to a slog through what felt like the world's longest January. I remember being thankful about the present and optimistic about the future in specific moments, but all the while a cloud of uncertainty and homesickness hovered over us. In February we made deliberate choices to have fun and try new things and believe that Spring would come. In March it finally did. Sunlight returned and our hearts woke up and crawled out from hibernation. April brought blossoms and visitors and a new job for me; May and June continued on bright and life-giving. We walked so many miles, topping up on vitamin D, filli...

Fall time really flies by. One minute its summer, then you blink, and its winter.  Maybe the time is moving so quickly because our plates are so full. I keep telling Craig to quit picking up other stuff--publishing book reviews, editing drafts of other publications, assisting his prof with research, plus church stuff, etc.--and just focus on his PhD already. But I'm doing a million things as well. In addition to continuing writing for an online curriculum resource, I've got my church job, my after-school club job, and I've picked up regular hours for Ministry Architects, which has been great. I started volunteering at New Leaf Coop, my favourite (natural) grocer. Recently Craig rejoined his rec-league basketball team and we started running together on Saturdays. Sometimes we have friends. We've also watched tons of NBA and even most of Arkansas' comically bad football season. We make chili every weekend. We tried three new coffee shops and discovered the bes...

Craig really loves London. Between here and the Highlands, we may not end up traveling anywhere else for the next four years. So anyway, we went on our second London trip this past October. It feels like ages ago now but it was such a nice break halfway between a summer where we ran ourselves ragged but sometimes in a good way and a winter that is barrelling ahead into a hectic December and which will slow to a dreadful gray and damp crawl after that, I'm assuming. In London we: ate at Slim Chickens toured Royal Albert Hall  walked until I nearly cried, partly because of the miles, and mostly because of the crowds in Piccadilly Circus. Take me to the mountains, please. found all the Brewdog locations ate breakfasts at Dishoom on a Sunday ran through a portrait gallery which was a surprise highlight visited the Churchhill War Rooms  crossed the Tower Bridge journeyed to Oxford spontaneously bought tickets to a hilarious play slept in  found King of the Hill ...