Even tho its too late, 2018 deserves this.
It was an amazing year. So many happy firsts, I am hard pressed to pick just one day. The Altoid went to China on a 10-day trip - 8 kids to a chaperone, no parents allowed. OT & I played maniacally the whole time she was away - from bus departure to pickup. Finished middle school w honors, over-weekended at camp, jumped off the HIGH end of the pier, started high school, swapped piano teachers, .... I think OT & I did cool stuff too, but it pales.
but 1 day. there are two, but here we go
Altoid and I went to Oahu together in August. It was our first AirBnB experience, to a place she's wanted to go forever. On 'the' day. I was up early w food poisoning - sad because our plans were ruined. When Altoid woke up, she climbed into the bed w me, and we started watching Dr Who. He's a great Dr, that one - after 90 min, I felt the illness leave -the wobbles and shaky feeling just lifted. We grabbed opportunity, got the bus, got to a rental car, and started our planned drive to the north shore. On the bus ride, I met a 90 yr old man w 56 great grand kids. After scoring a Dole whip at the plantation, we hit Waiamea Bay, and the Altoid had her first ever tropical snorkeling experience. It was magical and she was magical. She saw the exciting like a swimming turtle, she saw the invisible octopus hiding in his hole, and she saw the beauty in schools of dark grey fish. She is so competent in the water, it 'joys' me. I was so happy she enjoys this thing I love. We stayed in til I was shivering, then she stayed longer. And jumped. When the lifeguards started packing up, so did we. She noticed I needed food, and then we shopped every foot of a local grocery, enjoying seeing and choosing things we don't see in our stores at home. We drove back eating poke and chips, and swilling POG.
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OT's ball 'n chain
