Wrapping Up 2007: In Pictures

"The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best."

--Epictetus--

And so it seems the highlights of each year are the times spent with those I care about. Visitors are an extra-special treat, a time to feel as if I'm part of the outside world, a time to feel a bit 'normal' even if just for an hour. Visitors exhaust and exhilarate me all at the same time, but I'll never stop wanting to see people, even if it tires me out. After all those years of being known as a social butterfly, you just can't take that out of me! As you've seen throughout my blogs this year, I've been blessed with many wonderful visitors. I truly believe that the people in my life keep me going and giving each day another shot.



Here's the rest of the visitors of 2007 in pictures. I missed a couple of summer visitors in earlier blogs, so those folks finally get their due here! The rest of the visitors topped off the end of 2007 as they poured in during December. (It seems to be feast or famine since folks are home either in the summers or in the winter over the holiday!)

We have such a dear neighbor in Barbara. She 'gets' pain and suffering, as she has been through so much herself which makes being with her so easy--and no 'filtering' required. We considered it a major milestone this August when Barbara came over to our house for DINNER! We have not had a dinner guest in a very, very long time and what a perfect guest to start with!

Meet Tess, writer extraordinaire! (Her blog, Arch Words, is listed on the right side of my blog, and she is the one who wrote the moving response to my nine year anniversary post on her blog.) Tess and I knew each other in high school, and while we both liked each other we were never close. At our 10 year high school reunion in 2004, we reconnected and this year I got to visit with her. It was a wonderful treat.



At our reunion, I was left with the awful question of how to answer inquiries such as "How are you?" and "What do you do?" Oh, how I hate the "What do you do?" question. What I found was that being authentic mattered most, and when I told Tess that I was sick she looked in my eyes with such concern and said, "Will you be okay?" I remember telling her, "I don't know". The impact of that simple act of kindness stuck with me all these years, and I was so excited to reconnect with her this summer. I also never have forgotten the look of concern in her eyes.



We had fun catching up on the 'gossip' (and realizing that we had both dated the same guy and never knew it--and he gave us a lot of material to laugh about!) and also talking about the 'real' stuff. Tess is even thinking about going into Sociology, so she has been in touch with both of my parents about pursuing a degree. I am always fascinated and amazed by timing--that we reconnected when we did, that we had so much in common, and that she was thinking about going into Sociology and didn't know both of my parents were Sociologists. I do hope we will get to visit again one day when she makes it back to town. In a way, seeing her and getting along so well, made me wish that we had been better friends all along--rather than making our first significant connection at a party senior year of high school right before we all parted ways for college.

Meet my cousin Jan! (Well, actually she's married to my cousin, Mike, but I consider spouses cousins too! The more the merrier, since my dad's family is HUGE!).

Jan was in town for a conference in July and stopped over for an afternoon visit. She brought pictures of her family (four kids!), and we marvelled at how long it has been since we had seen each other. I can't believe she has a 15 year old son!

It's such a rare treat to see family members from either side of my family, because they all live so far away.

Ah, yes, Tupperware never gets old to children of any generation. I think I played with these same Tupperware containers when I was growing up! When Ted, Erin, and Aislinn came for a visit this was the best we could do in the 'toy department', but Aislinn didn't seem to mind. I love this picture with them all wearing 'hats.'



Ted (high school friend), Erin and Aislinn were my first visitors of the holiday season. I have to admit that I was exhausted after an hour an a half with a one and a half year old! I need to work on my stamina! :)




Why is it that you can never catch the moment you want on camera? Aislinn is full of smiles, but I never seemed to be able to catch her looking in to the camera (perhaps a faster shutter speed would help this remedy this problem?).




Hi Aislinn! I got a wave for the camera!





Aislinn LOVES her belly button. Ask her where her belly button is and she lifts up her shirt and shows you. I'm really laughing at how this will play out as she gets older. Will she be into showing off her midriff all of the time? Anyways, Erin caught this shot of me and Aislinn playing 'Where's your belly button?' She liked finding mine underneath all of my compression garments!



As always, it was great to see Ted and family--and I am enjoying getting to see Aislinn as she grows up.



As many of you know, I was feeling pretty crummy through most of December and I wasn't able to enjoy visitors as much as I would have hoped. It was often a struggle to get through the visits, and that made me really sad. I hadn't yet managed to straighten out the Lyme treatment and get back to a baseline. So, I'm often looking fairly peaked in many of the pictures!











Aren't we cute? I love this picture of me and Erika. Erika was a caregiver for one semester, but we became very close very fast. I tease her that she is so much younger than me and we are such good friends.



Erika stayed for an overnight and we had such a wonderful visit!!! I can't say enough good things about the connection we have with each other. She also really went out of her way to come to town for a visit.



Erika LOVES Asher, and Asher LOVES her! Erika and I have done a lot of talking and praying about whether or not someday she may adopt Asher. Erika knows that I do not want to give up Asher for adoption unless it is to her or another friend. We are just waiting for time and circumstance to tell us what is best for all involved.

Erika brought Asher a toy monkey, which is now his new favorite toy. He is so spoiled! She said she brought "A monkey for the monkey."

I think they look like they go together! :)

Thanks Erika for the fantabulous visit. It was just what my spirit needed.

Meet Celeste! You've all heard me talk about her, but I've never posted a picture. Here's Celeste on her last day with us. She has been my caregiver for the past year and a half--the longest any caregiver has been with us (because of the transient student population).

This is a classic picture of Celeste. She does every job with a smile, she loves coming to work, and she doesn't mind WHAT in the world I ask her to do. She's put all my CDs on iTunes, alphabetized them all, labeled them all with a label maker, organized all of my drawers in my bedroom and so much more! Plus she's a master at pill packs. She is currently living at home until she starts grad school in the fall, so she is going to try to come to town about once a month this winter just to do pill packs and any other jobs I might like done! (My mom hates doing pill packs, so the longer she doesn't have to do them, the better!)

Since Celeste is still coming about once a month, it doesn't quite feel like goodbye, but I really, really miss seeing her every week. She's been a top notch caregiver.

Sarah, Bob and Buffy visited for an afternoon the weekend before Christmas. Buffy is dressed as Miss Santa! And Sarah brought Asher Hannukah toys! I didn't know they made such things--but believe it or not they make dreidls and menorahs with squeakers. Asher thinks they are pretty cool. Buffy really wanted out of her Santa suit!

I am so excited to have found jeans that I can wear! And that I am dressed in something other than a sweatsuit! Hurray for baby steps! I had no idea such a thing as comfortable jeans existed!







I love this picture of me and Angela, both dressed in brown. She even commented on the fact that I was wearing 'real clothes' rather than a sweatsuit. She's always dressed like a New Yorker--stylish to the max!





As always, Ang and I had a great visit. We don't get to catch up often so when we do we have a lot to pack in! It was weird to hear her say that I may not see her until this time again next year--after she gets married. I hate that I have missed and continue to miss all of my friends' weddings.

Here are new faces I haven't posted on my blog before: Caroline and her husband, Tom.
Caroline is also a high school friend--with whom I spent a lot of time, especially on a group trip to Europe, plugging away at the high school yearbook, and marching our hearts in band.

Caroline is a sweet, gentle soul who always asks in her emails if there is anything she can do for me. Since she works with computers I told her to design a computer for a woman, by a woman that does not make me want to throw it out the window (as I do most days now)! She said she was game.

I haven't seen Caroline since college graduation, other than at our reunion, so it was great to reconnect with her also.

I consider Caroline responsible for allowing me to reconnect with so many high school friends this year. At the last minute our student government president bowed out of planning our ten year high school reunion and Caroline took over the monumental task of locating and contacting class members as well as planning and executing the reunion. Being able to go to the reunion was the biggest thing I have done since getting sick and was the 'last big thing' before the you-know-what hit the fan in 2005. Bravo and thanks to Caroline!

I'm not sure why this was 'the year' for seeing so many old friends from high school--the ones I see on a regular basis plus a cluster of folks I haven't seen in a long time--but it was quite amazing to see so many folks and to see them doing well.

An angel to watch over me...

Dad and Abbie put on their glasses and check out what's in that box: Planet Earth on DVD! Just in time to watch on their new TV and DVD player (finally they've upgraded from VHS!) And, yes, I picked this out BEFORE Oprah picked it as one of her favorite things!

We opened gifts the day after Christmas. Here's a nice family portrait! Except that Abbie HATES having her picture taken. My Dad, on the other hand, is always ready to pose for the camera!

Awwww, such a nice shot of father and daughter...

Fluffer nutters on New Years Day. YUM! Don't know what a fluffer nutter is? Well, you're seriously missing out. It's a peanut butter and marshmallow creme sandwich. And excellent food choice over pork and sauerkraut (Yuck!). Miss Alexandra describes marshmallow creme as 'edible glue'! She says such hilarious things.

Miss Alexandra came over New Years Day for lunch and we had lots of fun together, including having her 'do my hair' with lots of pony tail holders and barrettes. Alexandra finally cleaned her room, so she was allowed to come over for a 'play date'! She inspected my room and proudly declared that her room was much cleaner than mine.

It was a great way to start the new year. I'm wearing a vest that Anne knitted for me--isn't it cute!? I wish I could knit that well!

Happy New Year hugs from my favorite little snuggle-wogle (that's what she calls us--snuggle-wogles). This little girl brightens my world in ways she will never know. She is such a bright little spirit in this world and I love having a child in my life to spend time with. In fact, I love having her whole family in my life. Of late, I'm so proud that I can walk over the their house, that I've taken to just showing up and surprising them. Asher pulls like crazy to go to their house!

Well, that's all folks! Phew, right? This blog turned out much longer than I had planned (Surprise, Surprise).

Looking at these pictures and thinking back to all of the other visitors who came this year, brought me some much needed joy over the past few days while I worked on this blog.

Thank you to all of you who make the extra effort to visit!

And I can't wait to see many of you again in 2008.

So far our B and B is booking up bit by bit, including two 'new' visitors--"Mommy Bev" and Britt--and one very old favorite, Carrie.

Blessings,

Emily