2013 was full of adventures. Good and bad, highs and lows. We had a government shutdown, wildfires, the world got a new pope, Boston Marathon bombings happened, mudslides, Paula Deen, typhoons… rain and lots of rain and twerking. Yes, twerking!! We also had lots of tournaments, climbing comps, work, trail races, triathlons, swims and other interesting things. I still don’t know or understand what the Kardashians are famous for. I am still not hooked on Pop tarts or Dr Pepper. I still think everyone should walk more and drive less. I still miss Sweden (or more the people living in Sweden). I still hope for a calmer world. I still don’t get the healthcare system. I still wake up every day and feel like going for a run. I still think that my life is great. And I still think people have a choice to do good things. And I still enjoy a good cup of coffee, too often. And I still make my kids laugh. The other day I revealed what’s my favorite song to the kids and I saw mascara down pink cheeks. Well the mascara smeared when I started singing and actually knew the lyrics. That’s the kind of things that makes me happy. Happy crying.   

The question is, what’s going to happen in 2014? My prediction… lots. The year started out pretty good. No fireworks but good friends and popping corks.

We finally got our leaking shower fixed the other day. One of those small things you need to be grateful for. We had a nice plumber over and he worked intensely for a few hours before he packed up and left. The kids shower started leaking a while ago and it’s been a long and wet story. Hopefully it’s all done for now. It’s always interesting when you have people over to work on stuff you have no clue about. I don’t even know English words for plumbing and water leaks. Same thing when we had someone over to clean the gutters. Gutters, what kind of word is that?  Nothing I learned in school. And water heater, how do you have a conversation about that in English. And garbage disposals, those are not even legal in Sweden. But, I am getting better at those things. And I think I can almost keep up with car mechanics. (That is good since I really want to buy an old Chevy truck and restore it. Only problem is that I don’t know anything about old cars.) And that is not even easy in Swedish. When I had a flat last year I managed to get the price down from $500 to $19 after threatening to have the tow truck come back and get my car. Född i farstun, not me. 6 years in the US and I still learn new things every day. That is great. We celebrated our Happy Brekkan New Year yesterday. Six years. Six years!! Can’t believe it! But I remember the day we moved like it was yesterday. And I would never do it again.

I’ve started out the new year by signing up for a new class at the gym and it is interesting to be the new person. I can’t say that I am sprinting through the exercises but I am sure I will sort it out after a few weeks. I’ve got some stuff to work on. My gym buddy and I tried another new class a few days ago, not something we would have done if it wasn’t for injuries and modifications. But new is good, right? Pilates mat. Slow, rolling spines and lots of breathing. No pushing, punching, sweating and all nice words. We hid in a dark corner and exchanged looks every once in a while. I crawled very gracefully over the floor to check the time, and it felt like it didn’t move at all. Hard to believe it only lasted for an hour. But we are going back. Working on our inner warrior, spine, breathing and all that rolling nicely with an engaged core. That might be my new thing, engage my core. We do work hard on ageing gracefully my bestest gym buddy and I. My lovely British friend.

School started with a bang for the kids. Lots of volleyball on top of homework will break even the toughest teenager. A sore body and essays to hand in, mock trials and tournaments. January is a stressful month. And we can’t wait for the next break in February. And it seems like we will have some special visitors from Sweden in February. Happy, happy.

It’s Saturday today. Long day and lots of stuff to do. Brjann and I went to the first TriTeam workout for the year. Breakfast at 6 and then group work out. I felt so disappointed. And I am so aware that that’s my problem and I can’t blame anyone else. I always have the expectation of feeling almost sick, exhausted and really tired. And that did not happen, not even close, far from. And I get the feeling of wasted time. Why did I even bother getting up early for this? Ahhhh

Got home after practice and the power was out. We didn’t have power yesterday either but it came back after 14 hours. The house was cold but everything got back to normal after a while. It was really windy and rainy again this morning and there were tree branches all over the roads when we drove to the club this morning. We got back to a really dark and cold house. Two people in the family looked really worried since it was a big game this afternoon, but the power came back a few hours before the game started. We are lucky to have the bestest friends. Hanging out, watching the game, getting food, cooking and taking a nap. And I was not the one napping. You lovely people + one dog.