As I sit here on the couch, I am reflecting on the wondrous joy it is to be a father. Watching Alan running around the house exploring brings joy to my heart. There is not anything special about what he is doing, but the mere experience of watching him learn makes me happy. We have gone through so many milestones compared to last year! Last year around Christmas time, he took like 4 naps a day and wasn’t sleeping through the night. Thankfully he’s been sleeping through the night for a while now. I am grateful to get to support Valerie and am so grateful for her hard work as a mother while I am at work. We have a great family, and we have wonderful grandparents who love us and Alan so tremendously. It gives me confidence in moving forward as a parent knowing that we have so much support. We have babysitting and can go on dates together. Of all the things going on, having my family life in order makes me excited for the future. God has been very good to us. A few other things of note happened in 2022. I went hunting with my father-in-law and was able to take down a button-buck with a cross-bow. I will never forget how beautiful the sky looked after we got out of the hunting blind. So far we’ve eaten deer tenderloin and it was amazingly tender, and the rest is in the freezer.
We took a few trips this year, to Lake Norris, Lake James, Boston, San Antonio, and Ft. Lauderdale, all with a baby! I’m glad we have been able to have fun experiences and vacation even with the challenge of hauling a baby around. We flew the Tri-Pacer up to the Shack and mostly around the Columbus area. It’s been hard to find time to fly, but thankfully not too hard! Inflation knocked the gas prices through the roof for the earlier part of this year. Alan has been flying in the Tri-Pacer and on an airline and seems to handle it well enough. He really doesn’t want to sit still, but he does love looking out the window.
This year has been such a blur, going from sleep-deprivation to chasing around a curious, and now walking, child. We still get to go on adventures together, and that has been a great thing to get to experience. Perhaps as a reason of, or motivation from sleep-deprivation, my coffee setup has been taken to new heights with the new Fellow Ode grinder and V60 pour-over. I’ve gotten to take a lot of time off at the end of the year and finally unwind from everything. I am grateful to get time to relax and look forward to jumping back into the fray in 2023.