Sorry about being offline for a while… I switched hosting and domain name services and haven’t had time to wrestle the content back into working order. Now everything is back up and running, so I can post again. Win!
For the last few months, things have been pretty busy.
I’ve been back at work full time since August. In November, they asked me to fill in for one of the managers who is out of the office dealing with her own cancer experience. Functionally, then, I was temporarily promoted. I’m sad about the circumstances that have an extraordinarily gifted woman and kind human being out of the office; and honored to have this opportunity to help while she’s out. It’s a lot to learn, and everyone has been super-supportive.
Abe is doing well. He was busy leading up to the holidays. Our roommate moved out and is now living closer to where he works. Abe helped him move. We wish him the very best in his new space.
Before that, Abe finished his series of five illustrations for our client, which was an immense amount of work. They turned out beautifully – I’ll post a link as soon as he updates the Merk Studios site with the new images, so you can see them.
Just before Christmas, Abe’s mom and sister came to visit for five days. His birthday was on the 15th, so they were here for it. We were very excited about the prospect of seeing them after so long – it had been nearly five years. Abe did a ton of driving in terrible weather to show everyone a nice time, which was wonderful of him. We all went to Leavenworth and saw the tree lighting; we took them to Costco for the first time; and visited the Space Needle, which I hadn’t seen before. The views are beautiful at night. While I was at work during the week, Abe also drove his mom and sister around so they could buy gifts for his sister’s children, they visited some relatives in the area, went on a ferry ride, and saw the major sights they were interested in seeing. Abe’s mom and sister were passionate about experiencing coastal seafood, so each night while they were here we ate at seafood places around town.
One day I hope to make so much money that I can spend the weekend driving around town doing everything that Abe wants and buying loads of wonderful things that will make his life easier and delight him on his birthday. He was born in mid-December, when everyone is usually in holiday mode and spending their money elsewhere. I’ll bet it would be really special. I’d skip christmas to make that happen – he deserves it more than anyone. He’s generous, kind, loyal, and a profoundly good person. He’s the greatest husband ever and no one has a bigger heart. He faces life with positivity, decency, and patience. He’s wonderful.
In the absence of lots of money, we spent his post-birthday weekend celebrating his birthday together quietly. It was the first weekend in a while with no plans. We relaxed, watched a few movies, and Abe played Star Wars Battlefront. I did laundry, put out some holiday decorations, made eggnog, and fixed this site. It was lovely. Happy birthday, Abe.