-Never say Never-

We had a fantastic Christmas with our family. We were fortunate to have both sets of parents spend Christmas at our home. What a gift it was to have them get up with the girls Christmas morning and share in the excitement. Even though it was 6am and we’d all like to get another 3-4hrs sleep it was a wonderful memory we will cherish forever.

Today, December 31, 2010, we all look toward what the New Year will bring and also reflect on the last year. For 2010 it is going down as the year I learned to “never say never”! So many lessons learned this past year and so many wonderful experiences and some not so lovely experiences have brought us to this day. In each experience we learn something, even if you don’t realize it at the time.

Here are the highlights of our year (definitely a year to remember):

• January – We enjoyed a lot of outdoor time building snow forts and snowmen, skating and sliding.
• February – My husband attended his med school interview on my birthday. We packed our bags and headed to Florida with my parents!
• March – We received my husband’s acceptance to Medical School!!
• April – Celebrated our oldest daughter’s birthday. We began to try and figure out our next steps in life…move, commute, accept?
• May – I ran my 1st Half Marathon (1st never say never teaching moment “I’ll never run farther than 10kms”)
• June – Listed our home for sale and made plans to move to another city (2nd never say never moment “I’ll never live in this city”)
• July – Sold our home and took a trip to see a Taylor Swift Concert (The concert was a nice distraction at the time. A 3rd never say never moment “I’ll never take my kids to a concert”)
• August – Moved into our new home and spent the first 3 days cleaning and painting the whole house.(4th never say never moment “I’ll never buy a split level house in half acre lot again”)
• September – Sent my 3 students off to school and attended my husband’s “white coat ceremony”.
• October – Celebrated our youngest daughter’s birthday and my husband’s. We also mourned the loss of a dear Uncle.
• November – Celebrated my husband being the recipient of a very generous bursary for med school (what a huge relief!!!) (5th never say never moment. “We’ll never win this!”)
• December – Held a family open house with 57 guests! Had our first Christmas in our new home!

We’ve all had some crazy years, good and bad. The last few years we’ve had a share of not so great ones; from being laid off just before Christmas (both of us) to various health problems. But we’ve always remained strong as a family unit and that is largely due to the people we are surrounded by. Our families are strong and have always been supportive, in an unbelievable way. Our friends new and old have been encouraging and given us great strength.

We want to say thank you to our amazing family and friends that have supported us in our recent adventures, even when we’re sure some may have shook their heads in confusion. Thank you for your continuous encouragement and we wish you all the happiness possible in 2011. Happy New Year, bring on 2011. We have so many great adventures to look forward to.

As Gloria Swanson stated “Never say never, for if you live long enough, chances are you will not be able to abide by its restrictions. Never is a long, undependable time, and life is too full of rich possibilities to have restrictions placed upon it.”