While I Was Out...

I feel like I've been checked out for the last year or so and definitely checked out of this blog for months.  So many times I wanted to dust off the keyboard and clack out the latest Seckman adventures, mishaps and news but I just never knew what to say.

Should I explain my absence?
Did I actually need to?
It felt heavy.  Daunting, even. And, I didn't know where I'd start.

I can sum up the last 12 months with these words: Depression and Anxiety blows, y'all.  So with a new year comes the chance to start over new. I will not dredge up the past and force myself to relive these last 12 months but to move forward and get back to what I love to do: write, entertain and document our lives.

So, what'd you miss, you ask?  Sadly, lots.  A montage, just for you:

I was informed I was the worst mom ever by my darling child.  Elliot got busted making out with a classmate.  (3 times.  He is 4. But, he said to the Center's Director, it's okay because he'll marry her.)  Fred got a hard-earned and well-deserved promotion at work. He also told an Urgent Care doc that I pushed him down the stairs. (I didn't.) 4 months later he had surgery after finally admitting it wasn't healing and I'm officially on shovel duty through the end of January. We went to Disney World again and met up with the Medwicks.  It successfully reminded me just how much I miss them.  I've spent a bundle of money buying fabrics that are cute with absolutely nothing planned to make with them.  Elliot got his first love note from a girl at preschool - it was him and her holding hands with a heart over it.  (Yes, it's still hanging on the fridge.)  Fred surprised me with a Forever Lazy and a new diamond wedding band for Christmas.  (Not sure which I love more!)  I fell down the stairs in November and then re-injured the torn plantar fascia when Evil Stacey talked me into working out with her. I got a new nephew - Wyatt!  Elliot lets me paint his fingernails.  Eric, our favorite Lazlo's manager, demoted himself and returned to being a server.  He is now our favorite Lazlo's server. Over Thanksgiving we saw Elliot's love of apple pie come to fruition. I successfully brainwashed Fred's family into serving canned cranberry sauce at every big family meal.  Fred finally got me to buckle and he's now the proud owner of a gigantic TV.  We launched the first (and hopefully annual) Fredtoberfest.  Elliot was sick on Halloween and had to spend the night watching out the window with a super sad face at everyone walking around scoring bags of candy.  Fred made me miss all but the last 5 seconds of Elliot's first Christmas Program.  (Yes, I'm still bitter.  No, it's not the reason for the ring.) I hosted a Pampered Chef party with one of the biggest whack-job consultants I've ever met.  I helped teach Stacey to sew and form an addiction to fabric. Elliot attended his first wedding and got to put on a real show on the dance floor including all the moves to Cha Cha Slide. Recently, I experienced the most awesome beverage my mouth has ever encountered: a well-made mojito served in a jar.

I have no doubt I'm leaving some things out like the time the sales person at a shoe store asked me out to lunch or the asses that are occupying Lincoln in front of the State Office Building (as if they aren't some of the most disgruntled, government-hating folks out there) or even telling you some of Elliot's hysterical (read: awful) knock-knock jokes.


The final thing we did in 2011? The Seckman Trio hung out at Dave & Buster's on New Years Eve eating delicious food and playing arcade games until we were pooped (read: broke and way past Elliot's bedtime).

And, I think it was the perfect way to let loose at the end of a trying year - laughing, playing, winning prizes and remembering just how much I love my awesome family.