Ramblings: Happy New Year!

January 1, 2016 Jade Hughes

Happy New Year!!

2015 has been a huge whirlwind for all of us, from beginning to end. The first 8 plus months were taken up with me being pregnant while both working at home and making sure Luna was also getting everything she needed and wanted, and with Cesar working around the clock and then not, and then around the clock again. The last months were even more turbulent with the arrival of our little Aurora, and the beginning of even stronger hurricane tendencies within our little toddler. And mainly it has been a year of adapting, adapting to new routines and new dynamics, and realizing just how amazing love is, how it grows and overwhelms and really is unconditional.

It’s also been a year when we have seen where our limits lay, and have had to start making choices based on the well-being of our family rather than individual preferences. While 2015 was a whirlwind and incredible year, I hope that 2016 will be calmer, where we can focus on creating a home and relaxing in a new environment. It wasn’t an easy choice, but we will be moving to California at the end of January. I will write more about all of that next week when I have a little bit more time and energy! The holidays and decision making and planning and infant sleep regressions have really taken it out of me these past few weeks.

While we had a pretty amazing 2015, there was also sadness that only the loss of life can bring. Friends aren’t supposed to die. At least we can say that George definitely lives on in the imprint he left on so many hearts. Some people go through life never realizing how much of a positive impact they leave on others, and we can safely say that it remains, even after death. But still, friends aren’t meant to die. I have lost too many within the last three years and would like that to stop now please.

Some of my close family and friends had a very, very tough 2015, laced with depression, tough decisions and illness. Watching, from afar unfortunately, a teenager who I have known since he was teeny tiny and my California family go through a cancer diagnosis, intense chemo, surgery and finally the much longed for remission status, enforced that knowledge within me that we should always LIVE our lives. You never know what is around the corner, just as you never know what someone else is going through. Live, love and treat others as you would want to be treated. It sounds simple, but it often takes a huge effort to jump into the unknown and take a chance. And cancer in kids is just wrong. Horrific and terrifying and wrong.

We are constantly learning, about the world, about ourselves and about others, and I don’t ever want to be in a place where I stop doing that. So here we are, starting out 2016 with a new adventure and I am looking forward to seeing what it brings!

Here are some of my personal favourite posts from the past year, and if you want to check back on something that I may have written before, I have added an Archive page as well as a search bar in my About page.