You know you’re a project manager when you read “retrospective” and think about a post-mortem meeting after a project goes live to talk about what worked, what didn’t, etc.

Yeah, I’m not doing it like that – analyzing the year.  Instead, I’ll look at it this way….

2014 marked the start or restart of a few things –

• SB back in my life
• Start of my career outside of IT
• Started or restarted exercise with a group of fabulous women
• Spending some solo weekends at the coast with G
• Start of having the school responsibilities with DJ now that she’s in high school near my work
• Indigo finding her own people and getting involved with that group
• DJ kicking ass in high school without so much parental prodding
• DJ dating…..and not just dating, but dating a girl who is a junior!
• G getting involved with a fraternal society – shhh, it’s secret! (not really, it’s our joke!)
• G switching jobs to become a technology teacher vs English and History – and teaching kindergarten kids again.

It marked the end of a couple of things:

• End of having kids in elementary school
• End of having both kids in the same school
• No more play structure in the backyard
• No more family home in San Diego (which is huge given G’s family has had a place there since like 1940!)

We had some things happen:

• Grandmother died at 100
• Tree blew down in the front yard leaving quite a mess and a challenge. Thankfully it was removed safely before another wind storm could cause it greater issues.
• The VW Bus is alive again thanks to a persistent engine company & mechanic who found it a challenge he wanted to pursue.  And it should be noted that G received affirmation that he has a tricky ass bus which challenged even an experienced mechanic.  The issues were not with his skills.
• Indigo went to horse camp and was in love with riding
• DJ spent most of the summer in the woods – away from text messaging and Tumblr, but with the little kids acting as mentor
• Spent a long weekend in Seattle with the family – catching up with cousins that we haven’t seen in a long time, seeing another cousin wed a pretty awesome person. G stole her cousin’s baby and everything which made him happy.  We stayed in our first Airbnb – and it was awesome in an awesome neighborhood too.
• I spent a lot of time at the coast –
  • SB and I stayed at a great cabin found thru Airbnb and ate shrimp with our fingers, drank wine, walked on the beach, and watched the sunset only to come back and eat scrambled eggs and bagels.
  • G and I stayed at a great apartment on the coast – another Airbnb find – and watched storms hit the coast over and over again as we drank, ate, and just exhaled from life.  Then I took the photos that will be SEAF submissions this year.  Great weekend.
  • SB and I spent a weekend at the coast waiting for the horrible windstorm that never happened, drank lots of great wine, sat on the balcony watching the stars and the ocean at 2am.
  • G and I spent time in Newport at a great hotel that sites right on the ocean. Sleeping with the balcony door open, listening to the waves was awesome.  And exploring the area more – the lighthouses, the bay, Thor’s Big Gulp (as G calls it) and Devil’s Chasm – watching for whales that never came.  It was a great trip.
• Three of my photographs getting chosen for a juried show in January.  That was pretty awesome.
• Family trip to the wild animal park in Winston OR.  That was a great trip – lots of great photographs – and lots of Indigo squealing while the emus beg for food – or actually try to find food in the car.

I’m sure I’m missing a few things – but this is what comes to mind as I quickly think about it.

Overall, it’s been a pretty damn good year.  There have been ups and downs – yes.  And I definitely have some goals for next years – things I need to do and will do.  But looking back – it was a great year.

Here is to better year starting tomorrow!