Flashback Friday! Flashback to March 2019BC (Before Covid)

 I have a hard time with memories and pictures. My struggle isn’t in remembering, it’s in the feelings that accompany the pictures or events. Sometimes it’s the feelings that come with acknowledging all that has happened since. . ..and all that hasn’t. Sometimes I feel regret when I look back at old pictures and think about things from the past. One day my children will find this and I want them to know that I did cherish every moment with them. So I thought I’d start doing Flashback Friday and be accountable to my memories. . .  acknowledge all the goodness in my life.  As I’m starting now in March, I think I will move forward doing the current month, but a different year in the past. For this post I will catch up a little and start in January. So here is January -March of 2019BC (Before Covid)!

January 2019 

January started with a trip to the zoo while the kids were still on Christmas break. I remember having Seamus over a lot because Cyndie was being an absolute dud. This was ten months before she died. She was in a really terrible place. I think the month prior was when she lost custody of Seamus because she overdosed and he called my mom, his dad, and eventually his dad (Tim) called the police. It was awful (this is one of the moments where I look at these pictures and see that I provided a day for Seamus where he felt loved by his family, but what I feel when I see these pictures is what I felt at the time when Cyndie was at her worst).

February 2019

Joshua was in a hiking club and we hiked Piestewa Peak in Scottsdale. I remember that it was challenging and I didn’t make it all the way to the top. But, I also remember it being one of my favorite hikes! The trails wrap around the peak so that you see Scottsdale from different points. Absolutely beautiful! To be honest, though. . .  I didn’t actually make it to the top. :) I only have pictures of Miriam and I because Josh and Garren were so far ahead of us.

Josh also went hiking often with his scout group. This is a hike in the Superstition Mountains. 

I’m glad I wasn’t here for this one. This picture freaks me out. 

Then at some point in February we went to the Biosphere 2 in Tucson. It was fascinating and unhinging all at once. We learned that we are all doomed because of global warming. Well, that’s the short version of what we learned. The took us into this room where I took this picture. They told us it was used on an experiment to see how much CO2 plants could actually process and turn back into breathable air. They pumped this room full of CO2 and observed the plants over time. The plants got to a point where they basically quit and started also producing CO2. So. . . .  That is our future. Yea!

Then we went home and played and tried to forget that we’re all doomed to die a terrible death.

March

Miriam had a birthday party the first weekend in March. I hired a lady to do balloon animals. She called me a half hour after the party started to say she was sick. I was so furious. She did finally show up after an hour, so I gave her $20 instead of the agreed $100. I was so mad. I remember trying to make up games with red cups! At the time there was a game show on Netflix where they had a bunch of games with red cups. So luckily all the kids were familiar with it and were on board for playing cup games. 

Then over the kids spring break I took them to the Hoover Dam where I discovered that Joshua talks in his sleep. The funny thing is, I remember what he talked about: Airplanes! This is funny because he was 12 at the time and now he is an aspiring pilot. We stayed at a hotel in Boulder City. It’s kind of sad to look at these pictures now because we are currently in a water crisis. The water levels are so low in Lake Mead that they will start cutting water to one state at a time over the next few years. The first state to be cut off will be New Mexico. We had no idea then. . . 

Since we were only about a half hour from Vegas, I decided to drive them there to see some of the sites they see in movies, etc. I took them to the Belagio to see the ceiling. We saw the Mirage Volcano (which is going to be demolished soon). We saw the flamingos and Koi fish at the Flamingo. We also saw the Venetian waterways and gondolas. We shopped at the M&M store and got ice cream. It was a fun trip. Simple and memorable. I do wonder what the Hoover Dam tour is like now during the water crisis. Maybe we’ll go.

And last but not least, remembering our dog Cinnamon. She was such a good mommy dog. She was so good and playful with our cats. At the time we watched dogs for extra money through Rover.com. She was always so good with the dogs and would let the little guys win at tug-of-war. She was just the best!