Monday, October 22, 2012

There was this one guy...


I don’t know how you found your way here: either you’re an incredibly devoted fan – or perhaps some fancy computer program you long ago forgot to turn off has sent you an email that someone has updated this site.  Or maybe, like those old choose your own adventure books, despite not having any real path to this particular page you ended up here anyway. 

It’s been a long time since last I sat down and wrote anything of any length to put in this particular place.  So very long…. the girls are older.  Cadence is practically in college now… well, okay, not really.  She’s started gymnastics here in our new home town.  Wait – I’m ahead of myself.

We’re living in Renton, Washington.  Actually, we’re coming up on the end of our first year living back in Washington State.  We sold our house in Alabama shortly after the move here; in a blessedly short amount of time to be honest; we will always love that house and the friends we made there.  I think coming back to Washington has felt a lot like an extended vacation more than a return home because we left so many fond memories and great friends behind in Alabama.  Of course, we returned to a lot of great friends here in Washington, too – and that has really made the trip here rewarding.  We’ve had a chance to visit a great many of those friends and hopefully will continue to catch up and visit others we’ve been meaning to connect with.

 Another big difference is that for the first time in a long time – we’re not home owners; we’re home renters.  Although there are plusses and minuses with each – there’s a sense of permanency missing when you’re renting – and of course, the looming knowledge that at some point in the near future we are going to have to move.  On the flip side, we’re also rolling stones of a sort and that was probably going to happen anyway, (preferably to a foreign country that starts with the letter “A” and ends with “ustralia”) – so maybe renting is for the best – at least for now.

Girls… A house full of girls – a life full of girls, pink is the new pink, and pink is everywhere, dahling!  Cadence is every day a revelation into how amazing a little girl can be.  She’s smart.  I won’t bore you or patronize you with stories of how smart she is because every parent thinks their child is the smartest child since this amazing list of wunderkids.  But she is smart – and she has an amazing memory that surprises every day… as in “Do you remember that thing I told you six months ago,” she asks – “I do” she says.  Sheese!

The twins are growing up into their own little people and I have to remember to call them anything other than “The Babies” because they’re not babies – or even just “The Twins;” they’re little  individuals.  They’re personalities.  They’re people – and that’s amazing!  It’s like a new discovery every day.  Speaking of girls – we have a live in Au Pair who has joined our family from Macedonia (that’s near Greece).  Monika has lived with us since March and has been taking care of the girls while Lilah and I go and play at work.

And then there’s the new addition coming this December, baby girl number four.  Must be in the water.   And I am completely out numbered… Even my male dog is half the man he used to be (poor guy).

Jobs: Lilah is working again; she’s doing very well in fact.  As always, I keep hoping that they’ll call her up to run the whole company so that I can finally retire and live the dream.  But, until then I remain incredibly proud of her and all of her accomplishments – which are many considering she was away from the company for about 5 years before coming back.  And we of course moved back here because of the big Blue B.  This was a transition to the commercial side of the house and my first trip to a position not in the defense industry since before I went to college.  I am having a blast at doing what I am doing, which is early technology development and internal venture capitalism – real sexy stuff that makes it exciting to get up and go to work.

Well, I’d love to say that this is the start of a new habit, but who knows.  I hope the update is of some entertainment.