19 Years

As of today Paul and I have been married for 19 years. We started dating in February 1997, so we've been friends for 23.5 years. We used to go on an overnight getaway or at least go out for dinner on our anniversaries. The last anniversary I recall us celebrating was in 2009 when we went to NYC for a day trip to see a Broadway show while Paul's parents watched Nadia. It's possible we went out to eat for our anniversary sometime over the past 11 years, but that's the last anniversary celebration I recall. Ever since our babysitters moved to Oklahoma in 2012 it's been challenging for us to go out on a date. Our last date was on March 4, 2018. I thought we might go on an overnight getaway when all three kids were at summer camp at the same time this summer, but Paul's work schedule is just too demanding in the summer for that to be a possibility. We'll have to make it a goal to at least go out for dinner next year since it will be our 20th. 

As we gear up for a new school year, I looked at the lists of books from last year. We enjoyed 131 chapter books together. I read some of those aloud, but the majority were audiobooks we listened to through Hoopla, Overdrive, or Audible. We're currently in the middle of Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin, which will be our 14th book for the 2020-21 school year because in Pennsylvania the year begins on July 1. Ian read 68 chapter books while he was in fourth graade. He has a few pages left in Poppy and Rye by Avi, which will be his ninth book for fifth grade. Nadia read 73 chapter books in sixth grade. Nadia has almost finished Dumpling Days by Grace Lin, which will be her eighth book for seventh grade. Although the number of books appears to be very similar between Nadia and Ian, if I took the time to add up the number of pages each child read during the last school year, I know Nadia's would be much higher as she usually reads books that are a lot longer than the ones Ian reads. Hopefully sometime this school year Oliver will begin reading chapter books. 

I made two purchases this week for the 2020-21 school year. Yesterday I paid for a one year subscription to World Watch News. Today I ordered four boxes from TalkBox.Mom. When Nadia was young I purchased the CDs for Rosetta Stone Spanish. We tried that off and on over the years. This past January I tried a different Spanish curriculum, but we weren't that crazy about it. I hope the one I purchased today is a good fit for our family because it was rather pricey; Dad and Margie gave us some money for our anniversary, and I put it toward the cost of the Spanish boxes. I really hope that all three kids and I begin to use Spanish in the home on a regular basis this year. I remember a little of the Spanish and German that I learned in high school, but I remember far more of the sign language I learned in high school because I used ASL a lot more than I ever used the Spanish or German. If the Talkbox program works well for us, we can do it again next year, and then maybe after that we can go back to Rosetta Stone? We shall see. Teaching art and teaching a foreign language are not my strong points. 

I don't usually keep a record of the books that I read, but part way through this summer I did begin keeping a list. I read seven non-fiction books and at least twenty novels so far this summer. In some cases I read the books and in others I listened to audiobooks. Right now I'm listening to If I were you by Lynne Austin. Many of the novels I read this summer were by Susan Meissner and Ruta Sepetys. I finished the photography courses that I wanted to take in June and July. I have listened to a few of the homeschool convention sessions, but I have until the end of December to finish those.

The first almost 7 years of our marriage we went on many dates and our vacations were primarily in the Caribbean or Europe. The last a little more than 12 years of our marriage our focus has been our children. Dates have been few and far between and our vacations have primarily been within the US. If we're all still alive nineteen years from now, Paul and I will be 69 and 67 years old and our kids will be between 27-31 years old. Maybe we will be grandparents at that point? Time will tell. Life is very unpredictable, especially in 2020!