Time Machine

Last week I finally decided to somehow transfer my DVDs and VHS tapes onto digital platforms. Since I cannot transfer the VHS tapes, I sent them out to be dealt with....but the DVD/CDs that I used for my old video camera--I could transfer them on my own...

I did not realize there were so MANY of them!!  38 in total.

As I transferred, I checked the progress and was transported in time:

Summer 2007

Hannukah 2007

Willow!  2008

Christmas 2008

2009

Summer 2010

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It left me craving for those times.  Also reminded me how much we rely on pictures and videos to jog our memories.   It is a bittersweet experience, that I am happy to have.  

Now I cannot wait for the VHS tapes--some of those are of Michael as a baby!

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Meanwhile, we still have to contend with our PRESENT!  Vacation looms!

What I try to do and fail...

I try to post my memories here...not very successfully sometimes...I wish I could have the memory that Chewy has...today I woke up to this email from him (he went into work early today):

Once at a dark time in a dark year.

It was october 2014.  I had lost my job, Michael was angry and alone, your Mom was in the hospital.

And you drove us out to Brighton so Michael could go to a Halloween party he wasn't going to like, and we were going to wait in the car until he was done.

And even looking back now your love for him makes me cry, so proud I am of you.

You are the best person I could ever want to share my life with.

With tears in  my eyes and snot in my face,

I love you.

The Year is more than Half Done...

Dammit. Time goes by too fast...

Dinner after a therapy appointment.

Kif and Baragon.

Horn Pond

Kif on Brad's Head

Father's Day!

Father's Day gift.

Delenn helping me at work.

Kif helping with the groceries.

Gaming with Brad.

Knight and Willow.

Out for Ice Cream at SchoolHouse.

Fourth of July already?!

Fourth of July!

Brad's Birthday!

Hot dogs and s'mores!

Red Sox game with work...

Kayla's Birthday

Lucifer

My note to my daughter.

Family Day at Dad's work!

At the Zoo...

Mythical Creatures at the Zoo...

Lennier.

Baragon.

Wearing Weary

"There is no normal life that is free of pain.  It's the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth." - Fred Rogers

“Mental health problems don’t define who you are. They are something you experience. You walk in the rain and you feel the rain, but, importantly, you are not the rain.” - Matt Haig

“I found that with depression, one of the most important things you can realize is that you’re not alone. You’re not the first to go through it, you’re not gonna be the last to go through it,”
— Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

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It is not fully my story to tell...so I will not.  But I know that she has been struggling and that the last three weeks have been harder than any that she has had in her young life.  But, she is making it through to the other side, into the world again.  And she will not be alone...we will be there for her.

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Today, she turns 16 years old.  The wonder of her still amazes me and I am continually surprised by her thoughtfulness, kindness, humor and strength.  I only hope she can eventually understand this in herself.  

Until then: “You are not alone. You are seen. I am with you. You are not alone.”

— Shonda Rhimes

And pictures: