Nobody who says, ‘I told you so’ has ever been, or will ever be, a hero.― Ursula K. Le Guin

I suppose if you look at things from a more optimistic point of view, they turn out to be adventures, not terrifying hurtles down the side of an icy mountain on a trashcan lid at a high rate of speed right?

I hope in the years to come that this year will be retrospectively made into an adventure.

We did manage to get away for a bit and go to St. Louis with Em. I hadn’t been since high school. We went to the Science museum, the zoo and Six Flags.

Our daughter, after her first few years of being a daredevil has since become, as she says someone who “doesn’t like thrill rides on the vominator,” so the trip to Six Flags was a bit problematic. It got tough enough at one point an hour in we all thought of just going home. Admittedly it had already been a whirlwind tour of St. Louis and all of us are homebodies.

I used to love travel, but I find as I’ve gotten older I mostly like to be home with my family. I think we are about to enter a phase of that changing now that Em is of an age to travel mindfully and more easily. There’s so much we want to show her.

That said…we almost left but then suddenly, almost telepathically we knew that Six Flags needed to be a learning time for Em. Ever since we misjudged Space Mountain (I got it confused with Star Tours and it used to be slower and the seats arranged differently according to Mr. J) Em has been shall we say..risk averse to amusement park rides. To the point of tears. And it was holding her back.

We didn’t want to create an adrenalin junky and we didn’t, we just both knew she needed to take a step beyond that old fear. It was a hot rainy day. And it took three tries and then she went on it four more, but she trusted us and Mr. J went through the line (it was short, since it was a rainy day) while I took pictures and she went on a “scary” ride. And we all spent the rest of the day proud of her. She did it shaking and with a few tears, but she didn’t back downand she came through knowing she could face fear. We all felt that victory.

So that also went right. We pulled out that vacation suddenly after a summer of the outside of the house falling off (literally) and nothing but renovation and repair. I’m glad Mr. J pushed us out the door that way. When I tend toward inertia then he pushes and when he tends toward inertia I push just for different things and situations.

What went right?  A couple of things…trying this new job– I am learning new things and working with kind people.  What REALLY went right? Deciding to take a leap into the unknown and the very different and see about getting Em in a different school. And that above all has been the biggest right this entire year.  Having her happy and excited about learning and reading again. Having her want to go to school again—when things get dark or difficult for J or I we both look at that and count the year as successful no matter how hard it has been.