For some reason, as Mitchell was getting ready to go his SENIOR year Homecoming dance, he mentioned the "Happy Birthday" video from this blog. I wondered if I could still view it, and sure enough, here it is! Although I occasionally post Facebook/Instagram pictues or stories, or check on the kids BeReal posts, this old school type of blog is something of a comfort, as I think nobody sees it except for me. So...I guess I should quickly give you an update on everyone!
Mitchell: 17, Senior at Laguna Creek, running Cross Country despite DESPISING it, a bit stressed about upcoming college apps, and still my sweet (but very angsty teenager) boy. He's like Jekyl and Hyde - from sweet to dark in a matter of an hour. Hopefully just a stage, and it gets less up and down as he navigates in finding himself and his people. He still has a pretty stable group of friends from elementary/junior/high school, but I worry about how it will be when he starts college in 1 (or 3?) years. I guess I'll know when I write this update in the next few years :)
Molly: 19, Sophomore at Cal, very involved in Taiko and hanging out at IBS and Berkeley Buddhist Temple, artsy girl, loving everything about Berkeley! She seems to have really found a place that matches her, and it's great that we can visit her whenever we head out to the Bay Area to see Bachi :)
Emily: 21, Senior at UCLA, just moved her in to her 4 bedroom 8(!) person apartment, had quite a 21st birthday celebration with friends in So Cal thanks to Lindsey, clubbing and going to music festivals. It was great to have her home for the summer, as she was great to hang out with on the pickle ball court with Shelley and Bryce Takaha, along with being up for hanging out with Mama and/or Mitchell when needed.
Lindsey: 23, just finished one year living in Glendale and working for Disney in the Corporate Alliances division, truly doing her best to live her "best life" as a young and recently single person on her own. It was a big surprise to find out that she decided to end her 5 year relationship with Ken Nguyen, but proud of her for how maturely she made the decision and how she handled the breakup. They are both good people, just with different ideas on where they want to be in life at the moment. Proud of her for being so capable and thoughtful.
Me: 54, still working 4 days per week, 4 hours a day, "tracking off" every few weeks, second year working with English Learners as an Academic Intervention Teacher. I love the job for many reasons - decent pay ($40/hr) for pretty much all the freedom I want in terms of teaching, (mostly) sweet students who are predominantly from Afghanistan. It's just enough to keep me a little bit busy and getting out of the house.
Gus: 56, second year at Akzo Nobel, making good pay for what I say is a kickback job. He's always looking for different positions as he's not thrilled with some of the management of the company (too much jumping thru hoops to travel, slow process, low budget), but as we get older we're getting closer to planning for retirement. Yay!
Taro: still hanging in there, not as genki as he used to be, more focused on food than being lovable, losing his hearing, but still excited to "go for a walk?" around Kloss Park. Emily says that if he dies, we can't tell her if it's during finals week. I think he still has 2-3 years in him!
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