The (Non-)Winter Blahs

Here in Boston, winter hasn't really happened this year, and I'm thrilled. Even with my Yaktrax, I hate snow and ice with a passion. So I feel a bit guilty complaining about having a case of the winter blahs, but there it is.

The month of February has gone by and I felt like we haven't done much. Of course, when last February meant Paris, everything else would pale in comparison. I could really go for some Pizza Pino.

And yet, we've still been busy. I had the opportunity to meet up with one of my childhood best friends, Sarah, who was in town on business. The last 15 years of our lives were covered over 45 minutes and coffee, and it felt really good to connect with someone from that part of my life. Marc and I also enjoyed celebrating our friend Nicole's recent birthday.

The kids are fine. Max had fun being "Star of the Week" at school, is still excited about learning letters, and has spent much of the last two months thoroughly obsessed with pirates. Hannah has been on vacation this week, and I took her to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum before she got to spend three days away with Fillis and John. One of her school art projects was selected to be displayed at the Newton Education Center, and there is a reception for that next week. And Marc bought a new car, but I'll leave it to him to tell that story.

I've been very busy with temple-related work, first on Share a Shabbat and then on Yom Hashoah (Holocaust remembrance). I watched about 20 hours of footage that was filmed for the movie "Tikkun," hearing the complete interviews from all 35 participants, and the stories are just amazing. "Tikkun" was the short version, just quickly showing how so many members of our community were impacted by the Holocaust, and our committee is hoping to do some longer form versions. Now that I've seen them all, I feel a strong responsibility to do something with them. The experiences are so varied, and I learned things about people I've known for a long time, but never had the opportunity to discuss. The stories are too important to sit unwatched.

I've been trying to continue to exercise, and yes, I still hate it. But I'm back to seeing a personal trainer, now on Thursday nights. Without that scheduled appointment, there is no way I'd bother going. Combining that with time I spend exercising while Hannah takes rock climbing on Tuesdays, I'm doing it twice a week. I'm not deluding myself into thinking that there will be any results from my exercise, but instead telling myself that it's better than not doing any at all. I'm still using my continuous glucose monitor, though it's been more of a struggle with it lately, so I've given myself 24 hour breaks when I need it. In general, it's made me a lot more responsible and diligent about taking care of myself, so I guess it's still a good thing, but when it's not functioning properly, it's really super annoying.

So that's the mishmash of updates from here. How's the winter been treating you?