It’s my end-of-year time to be all reflectey. It’s been a year! In the macro-sense it’s been a pretty difficult year for people the world over. In a micro-sense, it’s also been a challenging year. The day-in day-out demands of three young children and such. But in those in-between spaces, there was a whole lot of good that went on.
In many ways, this was my year to recharge. While 2024 was one of the most fun years of my life, it was also exhausting… particularly at the end.
I started 2025 wanting to take things slow and easy. Travel was light. While 2024 was one of my most traveled years, I spent most of the early months of this year at home. My few trips in those early months were short and easy.
It took a while, but my normal appetite for activity and adventure came back around. I made it to New Zealand and Ecuador as highlights of what remained a lighter travel year. Things picked up in other ways, like improv, parenthood, and art.
We’re ending on a high note with a wonderful holiday season. Here’s looking back on a kinda hard, kinda good, pretty weird year.
L: Recovering from 2024
I didn’t notice how chaotic and challenging the last few months of 2024 were. Not until the calendar flipped over to a new year.
In September 2024, I went to Kenya to run in a marathon. It was the last big adventure of a year full of them. But I came home to a whirlwind of reality checks.
My oldest kid started Pre-K, which was a big change to our schedules and routines. A welcome one, for the most part, but it also meant the introduction to a brand new germ pool. Deanna got sicker than she’d been for a long time, and for quite a while. I tried stepping in as much as I could. I wanted to cover every aspect of taking care of the kids as much as I could on my own. Of course they kept circulating whatever viruses that were in the exchange. There was no avoiding getting hit by that proverbial bus.
Amidst all that came some sudden shifts in the sociopolitical sphere. I didn’t have much capacity to engage with all that. Instead I focused on what I could impact- packing lunchboxes and bathing children. It made me think of that Mother Theresa-ism: if you want to change the world, go home and love your family.
I sure would like the world to change in a few ways, so I hope she’s right.
W: Health
The health episodes at the end of last year were a bit of a nightmare. I’m happy to report that 2025 was its exact opposite. It might have been Deanna’s healthiest year since I’ve known her. She made a thorough comeback. That isn’t something you can take for granted when chronic illness is a factor. She went almost the entire year without getting sick. When a cold came our way in early December, she managed to fend it off fast. In some ways that’s even more encouraging than a perfect illness-free year.
Unfortunately for me, I got sick more in the early part of the year than I can remember. At least three different rounds. I do have a tendency to throw myself between her and the kids when I sense some sort of infection brewing. I'm thankful my baseline health is pretty solid.
I’ve tried maintaining my marathon shape as much as possible over the year. While I was happy to cut back on total time spent running, I managed to make long runs a part of the routine. I am starting to exit the low-maintainance years of my health. While I’m thankful to have no major concerns, I’m aware that being a little proactive can pay off big not far down the road.
L: A financial tough one
There’s no way around it, 2025 was a pretty rough financial year. Most of that came in the form of unexpected expenses. Unexpected house repairs. Unexpected teeth repairs. Unexpected plumber calls… it seemed to be nonstop for much of the year. It doesn’t help that our daycare tuition costs are at an all time high.
Of course, I know I’m still pretty privileged to have the cushion for this. Not to mention, to still have a rather stable job in a sector that saw a lot of positions cut. It wasn’t exactly the best time to be taking so many financial hits. So much macro-level uncertainty, but I’m thankful to be able to take it one day at a time.
The upside is that we have a lot of prospects for 2026 to be a better year in this area. In August, we’ll be off the hook from daycare. That will be a massive relief. And at the end of the year, we’ll have a car paid off. We’ll see where things go from there.
W: Clarity
I’m a planner when it comes to finances, but the unexpected mishaps have helped give me a nudge to think. I've reconsidered what I would actually want my relationship with money to be like. I don’t have the drive towards wealth-building that many do. I’m not trying to say that to talk myself up. I’ve seen enough people do great things with their resources that they built. But I know myself well enough to know my way of serving the world will look different. For the most part, I want enough to live free and generous. I don't want to be so mentally occupied with financial matters.
L: The reality of aging family members
A couple of months ago, we had to say goodbye to my mom’s oldest sister. There was sadness, mixed with relief. Her time with stomach cancer was an uncomfortable one.
That side of my family's blessed with some longevity, and at the age of 86, she was no exception. This side is also where I’ve inherited my Peter Pan complex, so nobody acts their age. This makes it a big wake up call during those moments when we realize that everybody’s gotten older.
My mom turned 70 this year, and she’s the second youngest of her siblings. Up until her sister passed, they all survived into this stage of life. It’s nothing short of amazing when you have that many siblings and can go that long without having to say goodbye. Of course, it’ll be sad when it happens, no matter how long you can put it off. It’s made me treasure my time with my mom and with all my relatives in their golden years.
I have aunts in their 80s and 90s in particular. This year, I’ve made it a monthly habit to drive up to LA with one of my kids for another visit. It’s not the easiest thing to manage in my schedule, but I know I’ll never regret this effort.
W: Great trips with my kids
We do a lot of 1-on-1 trips in our family. We love to travel, but as a family of five, it’s a decent way to save money. It also allows for quality time with each other outside of our routine chaos. I have my kids on a rotation for these trips so that each year, a different kid gets a special adventure with dad. On the fourth year Deanna and I figure out how to slip away for a bit. 2025 was a bit different, as I managed a trip with each of them.
How this happened during a year I was aiming for lighter travel, I’m not sure. The destinations were fairly easy ones. Kai was my first companion. In March, we went to Arizona together to watch some Spring Training games. In April, Rhys was on Spring Break, so he and I headed to Philadelphia for the week. Juniper had the furthest destination. We went together to Quebec and had a great time in Montréal and the gorgeous Quebec City.
And I even got my trip with Deanna! A grown-up exclusive trip, thanks to our moms taking care of the kids for a week. We did so to celebrate our 10th anniversary and went big. We headed all the way over to New Zealand… about as far as we could think to go! That was a good week. Both 10 years of marriage and getting our kids to this point where we can leave them with grandmothers. Those are reasons to celebrate!
L: The state of things
At least to many, this will feel like stating the obvious. This was a pretty harsh year for so many of the issues I care about.
Refugees fleeing conflict. Climate. Racial justice. People around the world struggling with poverty. Man, this year will get remembered for its cruelty. I keep my stubborn belief and insistence that good comes out on top. Hope is even more meaningful during the times that it is being challenged.
I’m also convinced that when you aren’t completely sure how to make things better, the important thing to show up. Find your people and keep showing up. It won’t always be like this and we actually do have a hand in what comes next.
W: Knowing how good we have it right now
While I'm aware of the world's challenges, I'm also aware of how good we have it right now. What an awkward paradox.
This especially felt true to me during the holidays when I did the math. Based on when Christmas tends to be the most magical, we’re currently in our golden era. Peak Christmases. And while I’ll always enjoy the season, we only have a handful of years while the kids are this young. It’s so freaking good at this stage.
That moved me to slow things down in some ways, and in other ways to go all out. I participated in a Christmas musical. I made sure we did all our usual activities- from the neighborhood lights walk to the tree farm. I like to be the one crafting an experience and I love doing that for my kids.
Beyond that, I’m also realizing that the years of my life where I’m striving for the next thing are about over. I’ve spend so much time in school, at work, trying to become something. To have the job, the family life, the capacity I do now. Now that I’m there, I want to live out of that . Living from it rather than living for it. That often looks like remembering how good it is.