Earthling. Aspiring Retiree๐งกโฎ๏ธ๐
โ๏ธphotojournalist of an ordinary lifeโ๏ธ
โwater is the ink that writes the poetry of lifeโ Alexandra Cousteau
I knew going into this year weโd have some amazing celebrations, Michael & Sabrynโs Wedding, Finnโs graduation and college move-in, Ryan & my 50th birthdays, our 25th wedding anniversary, our goddaughterโs wedding โฆ so I kept track of everything that felt like a celebrationโฆ and wow this list, man I really love my life! ๐ ๐ 2025 in particular felt like I was living lifeโs highlight reel! ๐ฅ
The best day was for sure Michael & Sabrynโs wedding, not only because Sabryn was the most beautiful bride in the history of the world, and love is the most precious ๐๐ of all celebrations, but because I saw the love between Finnegan & Michael too, and honestly, what else is my life for here on earth ๐? I think itโs a brilliant way to spend my time and energy raising two good humans, and making sure they cultivate love for each other as well! Iโm so grateful they have a brother! ๐ฉต that is what I want my legacy to be, children who love each other and spend time together even after Iโm long gone โฆ ๐
โ๏ธ ๐ ๐
1/1 started the New Year in Punta Cana surgery free – beach vacation with our family and friends ๐๏ธ โ๏ธ ๐
1/19 Illini @ MSU ๐ โ๏ธ
2/2 Groundhog Day in Woodstock ๐ฆซ
2/5 Blackhawks Game in Abbott Box ๐
2/13 Taylor Tomlinson (My Christmas Present) at Chicago Theatre ๐ ๐ญ
2/16 Coach of the Year Banquet for Ryan ๐ฅ
2/22 One-Derland ๐ฏ
3/5 Mirabelli in Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ๐ญ
3/10 Published 5th Kindle Bk ๐
3/16 Free Day at Shedd Aquarium ๐ฌ
3/21 Saw Finn break < 5 Min Mile ๐โโ๏ธ
3/26 Kaylenโs baby shower @ Work ๐
3/28 Saw Sabryn run Steeple Chase ๐โโ๏ธ
4/6 Tina & Amy with Robin ๐
4/12 Same # Days as Keegan & Baillie ๐
4/21 Finnโs senior night and Shot-Put-Iversary for Sabryn too ๐
4/30 Mammogram & Massage (and final exam for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence library classes) ๐ง
10/12 Long Grove Bar Crawl with Tim and Noreen ๐ป
10/15 Wegovy ends $0 – $1210.07/mo ๐ต
10/16-10/17 Midland MI Dow Gardens ๐ ๐ณ
10/18 Michaelโs Bachelor Party ๐ & my 50th Decorating Witch Hats ๐ง and Bouquet ๐
10/23 Nate Barghetze with Robin ๐
10/24 Dinner with WonderBraโds ๐. (Booked a Hot Tub Boat ride for Finns birthday, but on Nov 30 they had to take the boats out do the water, so it was cancelled!)
10/25 Witch Paddle with Tammie ๐ง ๐
10/26 Stained Glass Art Class with Robin ๐จ
10/31 Halloween ๐
11/1 T-shirt Quilt class at Lure of the Local ๐ชก
11/8 Jen Vincentโs story exploratory book launch ๐ and Meatapalooza ๐ฅฉ ๐ ๐ง
11/12 Christmas Movie Premiere at Woodstock Theatre ๐ฟ ๐ ๐ฅ
11/13 Ryan, me and Michael all new glasses ๐ค ๐ (withdraw from AQR job)
11/14 Dinaโs Birthday Dinner ๐
11/14 eyebrow wax and tint, highlights, haircut, nails pre-wedding ๐ ๐โโ๏ธ
11/15 Photo Class with Jen Fletcher ๐ท ๐ณ
11/16 Tote Bag class at Lure ๐
11/17 Angel Tree shopping (legos, blankets) ๐
11/19 Sprained right hand ๐ฉป ๐
11/20 Pick Up Finn for best man job ๐
11/21 Rehearsal Dinner ๐ฅ
11/22 Michael & Sabryn ๐๐
11/24 Coffee Shop Crawl in St Joeโs โ๏ธ ๐
11/25 Paul McCartney at United Center ๐ถ ๐ค
11/29 Salt Cave Massage (bday and Motherโs Day gift cards) ๐โโ๏ธ
11/30 3 days of fires and Finn home โ๏ธ ๐ฅ
12/5 New Restaurant Smokinโ Jacks BBQ ๐
12/6 Christmas Tree Lighting ๐and crafts at Jen Fletcherโs house
12/10 Vickieโs favorite thing party ๐
12/14 (Cancelled 11/30) Hot Tub Boat Ride for Finnโs bday ๐๐ Steak Dinner in Milwaukee
12/15 Finnโs 19th birthday ๐ (watched Ryan coach 2 games ๐)
12/21 Solstice โ๏ธ and Baillie Christmas ๐
12/24 Keegan Christmas ๐ ๐
12/25 Slow, Warmth, Peaceful, Restful time with my people Christmas โจ ๐ฒ ๐ฅ ๐ฅ
12/26 Shedd Aquarium with Sara & Brock ๐ฌ
12/27 cooking class with Kristi ๐ฅ
12/28 Brunch with Tara Wojick ๐ฅ
12/31 NYE โจ ๐
Not to mention all the delightful story exploratory and orange theory moments โ๏ธ ๐ and books Iโve read and podcasts Iโve listened to ๐ ๐ง
We all know how the story will end (we all die) so letโs make the middle really fโing great!
Itโs more than just a list (or a photo book), itโs my LIFE and wow am I lucky ๐ what a life I get to live ๐
Make yourself useful doing hard things with good people
Sometimes the worst form of laziness (sloth) is busyness โฆ youโre not being careful enough, undirected in your energies
Inattentiveness to things that merit our attention (laziness/sloth) so we can be busy and be slothful
I love my children and husband, but I have also learned to love being with myself and solitude. Delight in time alone.
Embrace solitude
Alice Kohler
Being solitary is being alone well. Being alone, luxuriously immersed in doings of your own choice. Aware of the fullness of your own presence, rather than the absence of others. Because solitude is an achievement.
Loneliness is poverty. Solitude is richness.
Pico Iyer
In an age of speed, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow.
In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention.
In an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.
Delight is finding time for me โฆ keep doing things for me until I feel like me again. Taking time to write and meditate and remember what is important to me, and then not breaking promises to myself. Focus on movement and stillness and creating and having artist dates.
Hopes & Dreams
Guidance inward to focus on me (empty nest) – embrace solitude, itโs not loneliness, itโs spending time with your spirit.
Peace, Joy, Ease, More Balanced in 2025 be Authentically Unique
What means the most to my heart, mind, body and spirit?
Empty Nest ๐ชน ๐งโโ๏ธ ๐
yoga, art, walking, meditation, reading
cooking, cleaning
Tina Fey said delight in her standup!
So many times this word showed up for me this year in books, podcasts and shows, cooking class descriptions, all that all delighted me! I embrace the use of this word! And treasure focusing on it all year.
I am delighted that I took time to write Kelly Corrigan AND that she wrote me back!! I am seriously fan girling ๐๐๐๐
I snuck away for a little writing adventure, and honestly? It was exactly what my soul needed. Picture this: brick streets that feel like theyโve been walked on for generations, lined with small businesses that are actually thriving. Every shop had its own charm, and every shopkeeper treated me like an old friend.
Strolling around safe and peaceful. I wandered slowly, letting myself get distracted by random bits of public art tucked around corners like little surprises.
I bought some treasures at the Local Art Store and the Independent Bookstore and the. Started my coffee stop crawl โฆ.
And actually made a lot of progress on my book ๐
Writing โ๏ธ Forte Cabanas Broad street cafe ClosedFull of CrepeClosed KilwimsClosed for the seasonTosi Chocolate ShopThe Market
Forte Coffee – hot chocolate and sticker ๐ ๐ณ๏ธโโง๏ธ took it to go and listened to the waves ๐ of Lake Michigan
Cabanas – ice cream and more – black coffee so it felt like a sin with all the cows on the wall & ice cream around ๐
Broadstreet Cafe – bagel sandwich and Carmel macchiato, stopped to work on my book and sat in an old church pew – full of retired old men so you know the food is good and the prices are right ๐ฅฏ
Aรงaรญ – closed
Full of Crepe – hot apple cider with cinnamon sugar ๐ ๐
Brookieโs cafe – closed
Peppermint ice cream at Kilwims & fudge to take home ๐ฆ
Copper Pot (is only open in the summer)
Had to finish the rest of Tuesday ๐ it was raining so I watched a Christmas movie by the fireplace and dozed off but then headed out with my umbrella to Tosi, there were a lot of great breakfast choices, but I wasnโt that hungry so I settled on taking home a squirrel cookie for my loves. ๐ฟ๏ธ
The Chocolate Cafe – I had to get the hot chocolate (also lots of good breakfast options), Iโm coming back for grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch ๐ซ
The Market – I was expecting like a Starbucks inside a grocery store but this place was much cooler!! ๐
I hope you are happy together forever. And I hope forever doesnโt sound like long enough ๐.
I love you with my whole heart. My wedding day advice for you is to just stop for at least one deep breath today and look around the room, because everyone here loves you!
I hope your life together turns question marks into exclamation points. โ๏ธI hope you dream so big (personally and professionally) it scares you. I know your brilliant brain, strong legs and giant heart will be able to carry you to achieve anything you can possibly imagine.
See all your problems as puzzles. Life is a puzzle, not a problem. Youโre both so smart, fit together nicely and together youโll be able to solve any puzzle you come across.
And Michael โฆ. You know I love you! And I always will your whole life!! With my whole heart โค๏ธ
I started in the 1900s, before Google, before laptops and cellphones were passed out at work, before A.I. โฆ
Itโs been my longest relationship. I have been an Abbott employee longer than I have been Cheryl Baillie and longer than I have been Cheryl Keegan.
There were no cell phones, you had to physically call your boss and let them know youโd be late or sick. And when there was a snow day at school there was a phone tree for teachers and it was announced on the radio or tv news. Just as you got your grad school homework done on your home desktop, the printer loudly printing what is due the next day, and finally got baby to sleep, the phone would ring, all the lights would go on, and weโd have to find the packet of paper and the next 3 teachers on the list to call.
There were no laptops. Which meant you could never work from home, you had to check out an overhead projector and laptop to run a one-hour meeting. And print slides on transparency paper ahead of time and pray you didnโt have a typo when presenting a PowerPoint.
Iโd only check my email on breaks. Iโd spend my day in the lab working. And for lunch or my 10-minute break Iโd catch up on my email on a desktop computer. which meant no schedule changes, urgent emails, last minute meetings.
I was hourly, so if I was late to work it was a big deal. There were so many (52 for the first kid and 47 for the second) times theyโd wake up with an ear infection, Iโd take them to sick call, fill the antibiotics Rx, dose them with Tylenol because they werenโt contagious (but they had a fever) and take them to daycare praying Iโd get through at least a little work before daycare called, so I wouldnโt lose my job.
And benefitsโฆI got 5 2/3 pay sick weeks for maternity leave, $25 check for my first profit sharing (and 25% increase for 4 years), one week of vacation for the first 5 years, no work from home days for the first 15 years โฆ.
There have been so many efficiencies since I started, and now that Iโm promoted to manager I feel the pressure to keep being infinitely more & more efficient. We are humans and itโs not something that is logarithmic. Change takes time to adapt to. But the pace at which humans need to adapt is in the workforce is quickening.
When I started at $9/hr I needed a second job to pay my bills. I finally made a six figure salary in 2022 (25 years after I started).
I went to grad school (twice), but I think that really only taught me that learning is a lifelong adventure. And those study habits carry me through today when Iโm in my 5th division and I have to keep learning and relearning.
I ran the womenโs leadership group for 5 years, was on a board or directors for little league non profit for 10 years. Sold my blood, sold my urine, worked overtime, weekends, nights, holidays, different timezones โฆ
Today, I canโt get my work done during work. Iโm constantly spending 11-12 hour days in the office (after a 45+ minute commute) and weekends to do the strategic thinking. When I wanted to be a manager Iโd thought itโd be development, mentoring and strategic thinking for part of my workday. Instead itโs supporting my team through the daily fire drills launching a software that doesnโt meet our needs, and taking my work home each night and every weekend, just to keep my head above water.
Not only leading people through these changes but adapting to it myself. no wonder why there is an increase in anxiety and mental illness. The pace at which work, politics and life moves is ever-increasing.
So walk in the woods. Meditate. Nap. Write on your paper calendar. Slow down!
From ๐ The Art of Stillness
Itโs been my longest relationship, and the world is so big and there is so much opportunity. Gotta go see what else is out there!
Teachers work 176 days a year. I work 260 (plus most weekends). Teachers work 67% of the days I do. Plus 4-6 hrs a day less than me โฆ.
Feel like a ghost in my own life. No one can reach out to me for advice or helpโฆ. Iโm always working.
I want to be the one who makes dinner for my neighbor who broke their foot.
Who isnโt always 20 min late to 7pm dinner with friends because of โworkโ.
Who says โwhat a relaxing vacation day, I only have to call into these 4 meetingsโฆ. โ
I want a gentle life filled with rest, ease, peace and joy. โค๏ธโ๐ฉน โฎ๏ธ
The Lefty Writer 