{"id":10157,"date":"2017-06-17T01:23:16","date_gmt":"2017-06-17T05:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=10157"},"modified":"2017-06-17T01:27:19","modified_gmt":"2017-06-17T05:27:19","slug":"project-52-week-52-part-one-megans-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=10157","title":{"rendered":"Project 52, Week 52, Part One – Megan’s Wedding!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s time for Project 52<\/a>, Week 52!<\/p>\n

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52 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday<\/a>, I began Project 52<\/a>. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 52 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d June 14, 2016, to June 14, 2017.<\/p>\n

So, yes, I am now 53 years old – and it’s time to finish up Project 52!<\/p>\n

After all this time, the year I was 51 was the first year I couldn’t cover in a week, but on my birthday I did finish talking about my interview in Eugene, Oregon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And my 52nd birthday was when I conceived of Project 52<\/a>. When I hear the number 52, all my classes in Probability (taking them or teaching them) make me think of the number of cards in a deck, so I also played some games of Solitaire to celebrate!<\/p>\n

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But I also went for a hike at Great Falls, and I was happy that this time, Tim joined me.<\/p>\n

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I learned that herons flock to Great Falls on my birthday every year (Or at least both times I’ve gone to Great Falls on my birthday).<\/p>\n

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A heron’s behind me.<\/p>\n

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And this one highlights the new opal earrings my friend Lauri Ann gave me for my birthday:<\/p>\n

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We light our candles in binary.<\/p>\n

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It was nice to have Tim home to sing to me.<\/p>\n

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Interesting – today in 2017, I decided to skip this month’s Capitol Choices meeting, because I desperately needed to sleep late, since I’m in the middle of booktalking. What’s interesting is that I did the same thing for the June meeting in 2016. I love booktalking – going to the local elementary schools and talking about the Summer Reading Program and about books they’ll enjoy reading – but it’s exhausting. In 2016, Karen and I were the only children’s staff, since Mary had recently retired, and we hadn’t yet hired Amanda. So the two of us did all the booktalks that year.<\/p>\n

Here are some pictures of my balcony flowers and my lake from that weekend. I was still loving my beautiful home.<\/p>\n

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And apparently I still hadn’t closed down my online dating profile. I was thinking I’d been off it longer – but on June 18, 2016, I tried my first Reverse Image Search – and learned that the attractive guy who sent me a rather incoherent message was definitely a scammer. His picture was taken from one of a male model. No wonder he looked good but didn’t sound good!<\/p>\n

I was still torn, though, because the same day was a day I played games of Dominion at my friends Alexis and Chris’s house, with Laura and Charles and John – whom I’d met on OKCupid. That still seemed like a win for online dating – having gained such good friends.<\/p>\n

But on June 22, I disabled my OKCupid profile “for awhile.” I don’t think I’ve enabled it since. I was getting tired of the scammers. And I decided it was time to take seriously what I thought God had answered me: to “wait on the Lord.”<\/p>\n

Also on June 22, I had my last hour working on the Information desk with my good friend Paul – He’d gotten transferred to a different library branch, closer to his home. But at the same time, we’d gotten a wonderful new branch manager, Laura (See, I’m mentioning you, Laura! But you really are wonderful!), and I was hiring a new staff member, Amanda – who also turned out to be fantastic.<\/p>\n

I caught my car’s odometer on a palindrome! I hope my car keeps running until I pay off my library school student loans!<\/p>\n

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I love the late June flowers by my lake!<\/p>\n

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On Independence Day that year, I made a cake for Tim, because I was going to be in California on his birthday, at my niece Megan’s wedding. We hadn’t gotten a flight for Tim, because we hadn’t known if he’d be in Oregon yet or not. He was talking about going to Oregon anyway – but I told him my heart would break if he left while I was in California. So he promised to wait until after I got back.<\/p>\n

But we had a nice birthday celebration. We played a silly game of Dominion, using all Village and Pillage card sets.<\/p>\n

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That summer I’d signed our library up to do “Maker Camp” – expecting to get instructions. Well, we didn’t – so we had to make something up! And we managed it, using the system 3D printer for three of the six programs. But it was an added challenge that summer!<\/p>\n

In July, alas! We learned that the Friday night gaming would be coming to an end. Mike, who hosted half the time, was moving to Washington state. Paul didn’t want to host every week – so the group petered out. So now not only did I not see Paul at work, I didn’t see him weekly at gaming. (We still email, though. He’s one of my most faithful friends about answering emails.) I see that my last night I won both games I played decisively – Dominion Adventures and Concordia. I get a little smile out of the fact I recorded that.<\/p>\n

And on July 9, 2016, I bought Tim a ticket to Portland. Sigh. He’d decided it would be easier to find a job if he was out there, and I had to admit, he had a point. He’d found a housemate – a friend of my sister Melanie. So he wouldn’t be putting financial pressure on Jade and Peter by staying with them – they still were unemployed. But I did make sure the ticket was for after I got back from California to go to Megan’s wedding.<\/p>\n

I had started Project 52, and it meant a lot that in July, my Dad posted several baby pictures of me so I could use them! Never mind that a few were of my sister Wendy, and he hadn’t realized it! In my big family, it felt super nice to get that much attention.<\/p>\n

I was thinking a lot about my coming Truly Empty Nest – but church friends and a timely sermon helped remind me that I am Not Alone.<\/p>\n

On July 11th, Amanda began working at City of Fairfax Regional Library. I’d forgotten that on her very first day, I had her help at my Colors and Codes program – teaching kids to make coded messages using prime factorization. I did lose some of the kids – it would be better with an older audience. But Amanda was a good sport about finding out her boss was a math nut right on the first day!<\/p>\n

On the 17th, I caught pictures of a hummingbird enjoying my balcony flowers!<\/p>\n

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On July 22nd, I drove out to Maryland to hear my Dad give the keynote speech at the Chappell Natural Philosophy Society conference! (Basically, it’s a group of people who don’t agree with Einstein’s theories.) He received a Lifetime Achievement Award! I almost felt like I understood his talk! (And people there seemed to follow it much better than I did.)<\/p>\n

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I brought Dad home with me and took him to the airport the next morning. It was great to see him! And of course, I’m so proud of him! I hope some day his theory gets wider recognition. (And just today he gave me the latest version of a paper to proofread. My Mom used to do that – now it’s a privilege to me to get to.)<\/p>\n

And on July 27, I flew to California! It was nice to have Tim there to drive me to the airport. My Dad picked me up and drove me to Rick and Pam’s house, just a mile from my parents’ house, which was full of young families.<\/p>\n

The next day, I hung out at my parents’ house.<\/p>\n

I was shocked that they’d cut back “my” jacaranda tree – the one whose blossoms I used to enjoy out my window. It used to be the biggest jacaranda tree I’d ever seen. They said it was rotten in its core. I hope it survives such a drastic cut back!<\/p>\n

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I spent some delightful time playing outside with my sister Abby and niece Arianna.<\/p>\n

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Arianna was playing with the seed pods of the eucalyptus tree, calling them “Pum-pums.” It was adorable.<\/p>\n

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And this was when I met baby Meredith! She was only 7 weeks old.<\/p>\n

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Laura and Meredith:<\/p>\n

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I enjoyed that my Dad had plaques from when he was on the cover of GPS World<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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That afternoon, I went through my parents’ old photo albums and scanned lots of pictures for Project 52. It was actually a lot of fun – and I was doing it in my childhood home. People who later commented that I have a good memory – I also have a Mom who was very very good about dating her photographs. That told me a lot!<\/p>\n

And that night, I finished sewing in the yarn ends for the Fibonacci blanket<\/a> I’d knitted for Meredith!<\/p>\n

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And July 29th was the day of Megan’s wedding! We assembled at my parents’ house, and I ended up riding with Rick and Pam to the wedding. Ron joined us on the way back. Marcy had arrived, bringing only Zoe – so we were overflowing with adorable Babyness.<\/p>\n

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Seeing my Mom was hard for me. Since I hadn’t seen her in a year, it was really obvious to me how much worse she was – so much less talking. The only time I heard her talk was at the wedding when she was watching sweet, happy Zoe and Mom started saying, “Look at her! Look at her!”<\/p>\n

Mom with Abby:<\/p>\n

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Rick and Pam:<\/p>\n

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Zoe was sitting in her car seat, playing with a water bottle and with her feet! And making happy noises. She was being utterly adorable. (This is why I had complete sympathy for my Mom telling us to look at Zoe.)<\/p>\n

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While we were waiting for the wedding to start, Arianna wanted a little attention.<\/p>\n

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Meredith was being calm and quiet.<\/p>\n

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And Zoe was entertaining herself, adorably happy, singing a baby song.<\/p>\n

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Arianna with her Daddy (Robert) and her Uncle Nathan looking on:<\/p>\n

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Zoe was getting happier and happier as the wedding was about to begin!<\/p>\n

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Here’s Kristen, watching for her sister Megan to come down the aisle.<\/p>\n

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And here comes Megan!<\/p>\n

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Dave got to have a part in the ceremony.<\/p>\n

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I’d learned when I was in Oregon in May that Zoe likes to hold onto her ears when she’s tired! So adorable!<\/p>\n

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Kristen was such a beautiful maid of honor!<\/p>\n

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Such a beautiful ceremony!<\/p>\n

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One baby slept through the wedding!<\/p>\n

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Time for pictures!<\/p>\n

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Here’s the couple with Dave’s side of the family:<\/p>\n

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And here are Becky and Dave with all their children – and the new son-in-law. First, a silly picture:<\/p>\n

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Now being nice:<\/p>\n

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Laura and Meredith:<\/p>\n

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Moms and Babies:<\/p>\n

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Dave’s parents joined the family picture:<\/p>\n

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(I was in some family pictures, but didn’t get any of those taken with my camera.)<\/p>\n

Happy parents with the happy couple:<\/p>\n

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And then Meredith was sitting there being so cute, making the blanket I’d knitted look so beautiful:<\/p>\n

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She started smiling!<\/p>\n

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And making happy noises!<\/p>\n

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Here’s my nephew Jason and his girlfriend Laura:<\/p>\n

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Becky, the Mother of the Bride!<\/p>\n

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Arianna had a Bouncy Castle to play in!<\/p>\n

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Megan and Zak at the reception:<\/p>\n

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And back at the tables, little Zoe was playing with her feet again:<\/p>\n

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Laura and Meredith:<\/p>\n

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Jeff, Rick, and Pam:<\/p>\n

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My Dad was adorable, playing with Zoe!<\/p>\n

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And Meredith was still beautifully modeling the Fibonacci Blanket.<\/p>\n

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Robert’s family took to the dance floor a little early:<\/p>\n

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Arianna got several people to dance with her. First was Abby!<\/p>\n

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Arianna dancing with Grandpa was especially sweet!<\/p>\n

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Later she enjoyed Daddy’s shoulders:<\/p>\n

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Michael and Megan, Brother and Bride:<\/p>\n

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On Saturday, Ruth picked me up and took me to her house. We watched the movie “Miracles from Heaven” and went out to eat, then stayed up doing a puzzle of Jerusalem. We had a great time just talking with each other.<\/p>\n

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On Sunday, Ruth took me back to my parents’ house. Aunt Abby was the one playing with Arianna again:<\/p>\n

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Though I helped Arianna do a puzzle.<\/p>\n

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Then Becky and Dave drove me down to their home in Encinitas. We listened to the Hamilton cast album during the drive. (I had to buy it for myself later!)<\/p>\n

I spent most of Monday in Encinitas. Becky and I played some Splendor, then went out to eat and to the Botanical Garden there in Encinitas.<\/p>\n

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That night, Becky drove me back to Wilmington and we listened to the rest of Hamilton. The next morning, Dad drove me to LAX, and I flew back home.<\/p>\n

So that was my 2016 trip to California – short, but packed full of time with family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s time for Project 52, Week 52! 52 weeks ago, on my 52nd birthday, I began Project 52. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, each week I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m taking one year of my life and blogging about it. This week, I’m covering the year I was 52 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d June 14, 2016, to June 14, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-project-52"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}