A Letter about 2015

Dear friends, 

This year dragged then sped up at the end. Sometimes I wonder, was getting diagnosed with breast cancer a good distraction from residency and this never-ending medical journey? We're still here in NY, still dealing with two small children sharing a room (it's terrible most of the time), still wondering if our dreams of living by the water will happen. We're coming to accept that a river counts as water (we're a 15 minute run away) and I have a vague goal of visiting every spot we can up and down the Hudson River this year. I want a big, weird goal to accomplish and I'm throwing that one out there. We're thinking about plans post-residency (fellowship? job? where??) and thinking about how our two girls are our world for now. We pray to have more kids someday (and we have two frozen embryos waiting!) but for now, we're just so unbelievably grateful for our two wild ones. 

Rinnie runs and pretty much says "go go go!" about everything. (i.e. going outside, getting her down from a chair, anything she wants) She also says "cook-eeee" and mom-eee a lot. She almost always has a pacifier in her mouth (sorry second child) but we're hoping to chuck those things soon. Her little legs are so fast and her grandma dubbed her the little gingerbread man as she laughs and laughs and runs and runs. She's so mischievous yet so loving. We've loved getting to know her personality and laughing with her. Her little muscular body and long eyelashes are the best. She loves the neighbors in our building and really all of our neighborhood friends. 

Alta is in school! And she/we love it. I love hearing about her friends and having her re-tell all the things that happened. She still loves Bunny and all the bunny friends. If I could buy her a backyard right now, I would. She loves to run around and explore and I think she likes to be outside as much as I do. She's become very helpful with specific tasks like taking off Rinne's shoes and socks when we get home, getting Rinnie a yogurt from the fridge, and getting everybody a cup of water at the dinner table. One of our favorite recent moments was her wishing one of the maintenance guys in our building a merry christmas! She is so happy, outgoing, and special. And potty trained :))

Dave is finally moving up! This is the first year that he's had people below him and I think that's the best. Also, only doing back-up call is also the best. He works, he runs, he talks about running, he buys new Apple products and contemplates buying new Apple products. He eats a lot of Chipotle and gives the girls a sip of his soda. He carries on in the midst of the past couple of months of craziness - which is a miracle. How he survived 15-hr days and worried about me and everybody is a testament to his calm, patient personality. This next year will be big as he decides what he wants to do. I'm excited about this!

And me. What happened! I don't even know what happened. Obviously, cancer. surgery. chemo. fertility treatments. I'm pretty sure there was a whole other 9 months of things that happened but they all kind of disappeared from my brain. I'm lost in a sea of: I don't know what's going on but we must go on. So I'm going to leave myself out of this. I'm here but I don't have much to say for myself. 

We're slowly building a list of what we think we want in life. Sun. Water. Outside. Run around. Family. A bigger kitchen. Washer, dryer. Good food. Walkable-ish neighborhood. Money. etc. 

Here's to another year here!