Farewell, 2015!

It’s 11 pm, 25 hours before the end of yet another year and while I should be sleeping, I’m sitting here:

On the way back from three exhausting, stressful, chaotic, fun-filled, memory making days at Disney and an amazing night with friends we dearly miss.

All four kiddos are passed out in the back seat.  I can hear Doodle snoring with his stuffy nose and am thankful the hacking cough he’s had the past few days seems to have subsided.  I hear Pipsqueak grunt and moan as the firetrucks and ambulances rush by our still car.  I beg Sugarplum, who is uncomfortable in her car seat, to please rest patiently so Pipsqueak doesn’t wake up and want to nurse.

We are lss than a mile from the next exit and 50 from the last, but going nowhere.  It seems an ironically accurate way to wrap up 2015: just a tiny bit farther to the next year after a long journey this past year.

But what a magical journey it’s been (much more exciting than the previous 50 miles of driving through the desolate middle of Florida).

What started with coming to know and accept our unexpected future with another baby has ended filled with more love, laughter and adventure than I ever could have dreamed of.

Trips to new places like Washington, D.C. and old like Colorado and Massachusetts.  Returning to our memories and previous home in Dublin, finding a renewed appreciation for life as we left the home we’d been in since returning home more than three years ago.

We said good-bye to our last grandparent and welcomed our second son.  We face 2016 as a family of 6, our forever family.

For what may be the first time, I have absolutely no idea what lies ahead in the year to come (or just around the curve of the highway, for that matter.)

We could have a quiet, uneventful year or it could be filled with more excitement and surprises.

A year from now, everything could be different.  Or it could all be the same.  And all I can do is sit back and wait.

Take in every bit of my children, good and bad and keep an eye on the year ahead while holding onto the magnificence of this year coming to an end.

(And two hours later, less than 24 hours left of 2015 and still a hour and a half from home, off we go as the nighttime fog rolls in…)