2013 A Year In Review

Dear 2013,

Thank You...

for everything!

Love,

Eleanor

On a day to day basis, it seems like nothing ever changes. But once you reflect on the year (let alone the decade), it's amazing to see the good things that transpired. That events, despite the ups and downs, turned out for the best.

This year was the most difficult year I've gone through in my life. No exaggeration. Without going into details, I have grown so much as a person, wife, and mother. I am grateful to have gone through difficult opportunities that shaped me inwardly. Like I've said before, the universe does not care about our outward progress (money, cars, career, etc.) but it cares about our inner evolution.

Instead of dwelling on the negative, we continue to center on the positive points that happened this year. We were blessed with a plethora of transitioning points. Here are a few of the many good things that I was able to documented this year.

♫ January 2013: Maksim started teething. We're sure it hurt, but he didn't show signs of it. He mainly chewed on his toys. But he's a healthy boy. So happy and proud of him.

♫ February 2013: We headed to Texas, twice! We filmed for the NBA All Starz Event and the Dallas Mavericks. 

♫ March 2013: We traveled to Philadelphia to film a hockey team, Philadelphia Flyers.

♫ April 2013: We took Maksim to his first nature walk at the park. It was one of the first warm days in April. He loved it. He slept well that night.

♫ May 2013: We took 4 days to film a pilot episode in Islamorada, Florida. Such a beautiful little place. I'd love to go visit there for vacation in the future.

♫ June 2013: History Channel's Frank Fritz visited our studio at work to film a commercial. My first time ever to meet a celebrity.

♫ July 2013: Maksim got his first haircut. We saved some of his hair clippings. He hasn't gone back to a barbershop since. His Gumma now cuts his hair. She does a fantastic job.

♫ August 2013: Every afternoon Maksim walked the dogs around the neighborhood. He loves this activity so much. Our family walked at least 2 miles a day with the pets during the late summer.

♫ September 2013: Andrey's college car got sold. We were more relieved to get it taken off our hands than fixing it up. Our garage has more space now.

♫ October 2013: I got my mole excised at a plastic surgeon's office. It healed rather well.

♫ November 2013: We took Maksim to see the Sesame Street Live Show: Making New Friends. It was fantastic!

♫ December 2013: Babushka came for a surprise visit! She was there for Maksim's birthday party. It was wonderful.

I can not expressed how utterly blessed we are with everything we've gone through this year. There are so many things to be thankful for. The most important lesson I learned this year, as difficult as it was and still is, is to always be thankful and give love to everything. It sincerely changes the quality of life. Life is simply... a wonderful melody... and even with some dissonance - the score is nothing but beautiful.