Welcome, 2010!

Happy New Year! Earl and I spent New Year's Eve as we usually do: celebrating on London time with the kids (7:00 our time) and going to bed before midnight. We made it more of a party this year; I had asked Abby to help me plan the party food on Wednesday, which she did. She helped me shop for it and make some of it, too, with recipes from her Junior Cookbook, which she loves.


It was fun, but I've come down with a cold and as the evening wore on, I felt worse and worse, so it was just as well that we didn't get to our family time capsule project. We'll do that today.


I still feel pretty lousy, but have only been up for an hour so hopefully that will improve. Especially since I'm scheduled to sing the 10:30 holy day mass. I sound like a bullfrog but am hoping for the best.


I wish I could write a "2009 year in review" post, or a "grand plans for 2010" post, but I really don't have it in me. Besides, if you want the year in review, you can read older posts, like I did, to refresh my memory about this busy year.


A few events do stand out in my mind, though:

• a major misunderstanding in Abby's IEP process in the spring that not only soured my relationship with her then-principal, but made Abby's summer extremely difficult for her and for us;


• the change of Abby's diagnosis from PDD-NOS to Asperger Syndrome;


• turning 40 (!); and


• the Marriage Encounter weekend Earl and I attended in October.

The IEP thing stands out in my mind because it's now 2010, and I need to start thinking about Abby's and Brian's IEPs for the next academic year. Earl and I especially need to give some hard thought to the summer, because the programming Abby had last year was inadequate, and caused a lot of problems in terms of regressive behaviors for her (and also family stress for us.)

I hate that as soon as the calendar turns to January 1, I get that panicked feeling brought on by impending IEP meetings in the spring. I have no reason to believe that this year's process will be a painful one, but so many have been painful in the past that it's a gut reaction. The best I can do is to be prepared and make sure every single communication is clear. It's a hard-enough process without also trying to smooth unnecessarily ruffled feathers.

I've written a lot about Abby's new diagnosis. Abby continues to grow and develop, but I think the biggest change has been in my perception of her disability. It's brought me peace, somehow, to have the new diagnosis. She's still the same person, but I'm dealing with her better, for the most part.

Turning 40 has been fine. I think I've written about that, too, but the overall feeling is that of leaving a difficult decade with many adjustments behind, and facing the future with more optimism and less concern about what others think of my life and my choices.

Marriage Encounter was a life-changing experience. It has revived Earl's and my marriage, and we have grown more as a couple in the past three months than we did in the previous three years, easily. I'll be writing more about it this month, but for now, it just ranks up there with the biggest events of 2009. Probably the most important event.

As for 2010 (I'm saying "two thousand ten" but am wondering if others are saying "twenty ten") I hope for continued growth together with Earl; achieving my modest and realistic health goals; a smooth IEP planning process with adequate summer programming for both Abby and Brian; and a continuation of the many blessings I sometimes take for granted.

I'd also love to kick this cold really soon.