Lots of good things

     I really wish I would have posted sooner than this. I was so close on Thursday. I downloaded and then deleted my camera card and had all kinds of good things to write about...but like so often happens, life happened, and I never wrote that post. Friday night our hard drive crashed and burned...and since we have not backed it up since January 3rd, my pictures and videos from then until now are gone. Thank goodness for this blog and the few pics I put on Facebook. Without those all of my photo memories from these past few months would be lost. In early November we lost our operating system. Most of that was retrievable, and all of our pics and videos were saved. This time, with losing the hard drive, only time will tell. It's at the computer store in the hands of a tech.

     So if things come in threes, I hope we are done. We are forking over too much money on our basement radon fix, our money-sucking Suburban, and now our computer. It's the stuff of life, the way things go sometimes. I know all of that. But I get so weary of it. And losing pictures and videos of our life makes me feel physically ill. Why? Because capturing those moments gives me tangible proof that they ever occurred in the first place. Recently we've been transferring our old video tapes--yes, tapes--to our DVR. This allows Derek to burn them onto DVD's. Watching our babies and toddlers and our little boy who refused to say he was 7--he insisted his age was "almost 8!"--watching them on those tapes feels like entering a time machine. I love it. These days, then and now, are so fleeting. I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time...and so I watch my memories play out on a screen and I feel like I have all of the pieces of my heart put together in those moments. That's why it's so important to me.

     So, now what? Where have we been since I last wrote on February 19th? Lots of good things have been going on. Normal, everyday things. A dental visit with no cavities X5, a bathroom transformation, wrapping up the 3rd quarter of school, movie nights, a visit from my parents, band concerts, an award assembly, a date with Derek while my parents and kids cheered as we walked out the door, shopping with Mom, treats at restaurants, a backyard fire in the fire pit, lots of basketball in the driveway, baseball at the track, and several glorious 70 degree days. And no matter what I have or don't have in pictures, I have it all in my heart. :)