Advent & Christmas 2023
Yesterday we had a lot of fun celebrating two decades of Lillia’s life! It’s so hard to believe that much time has passed already. This year is bringing big changes. In just a few months Lillia will graduate from high school, and then she’s off to college. We’ve got a good list of schools she’s interested in—now we just need to get to work on getting ourselves organized so we can start applying.
It’s absolutely mind-boggling to realize that, by this time next year, Lillia will be a couple of months into her first year in college. She’ll most likely be living somewhere else, and we probably won’t get to see her on her birthday, at least not in “real life.” I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, but this might have been Lillia’s last birthday at home. I’m so glad we kept up all of our fun traditions—like our birthday ring, cape, and crown—all the way to the end. Earlier this year, I bought another package of the birthday ring animals so that each kid can take a set when they leave home for good someday. If Lillia has children, I hope she’ll continue these traditions with them, too.
It’s official: We have a senior! Lillia is now in Phase Four, which is basically the equivalent of senior year in most schools. She has spent a little over four and half years at MC2 Charter School, and now she’s in the home stretch. This fall I’ll be working on paperwork behind the scenes (FAFSA time!), while Lillia works on pulling together her best artwork from the past couple of years to create a portfolio to send out with her college applications. She’s currently considering sequential art / comic art programs at a bunch of different colleges, including Columbus College of Art and Design, New England College, and the Joe Kubert School. It’s hard to believe that this time next year we will most likely be the parents of a college student! While I do get a little sad every time I think about how close she is to moving on to the next phase of her life (I will miss her so much), I have been surprised to find that I also feel incredibly excited for her—now her life can really begin. The last few years have certainly given Lillia so many challenges—COVID lockdowns and the tragic death of her best friend being two that stand out above the rest—but she has managed to keep moving forward, albeit sometimes at a gentler pace. We’re looking forward to a spring graduation, and all the adventures to follow, and remain so deeply grateful for the gift of the extra time we’ve had with Lillia at home.
Zane is still plugging away at his studies at St Joe’s. He’s a real middle-schooler now, with the height to match—he measured 5’2″ at his doctor’s appointment this week, which means he’s basically closed the gap on me! It’s strange to be eye-to-eye with my “baby,” but he’s quite proud of himself. Zane just started piano lessons a couple of weeks ago, and so far he is doing well. His grandfather had previously promised him $300 if he can play “We Three Kings” with both hands by Christmas. That’s some serious incentive! Getting him to practice can be challenging, because he’s always on the phone with friends. I definitely remember those days from my own junior high years, and I’m really glad he has such a nice group of friends to spend time with, both in and out of school. For the first time ever, Zane is really enjoying his math class—if he wants to pursue his dream of becoming a CPA (yes, really) he’ll have to master a lot of math concepts.
We had a great time celebrating Zane’s last “childhood” birthday before he officially becomes a teenager next year. Twelve year-old boys are the best—they have better impulse control and less of that characteristic little boy energy, but they still have an openness and goofiness that girls of the same age seem to lose (having been a junior high-aged girl myself, I know how hard those years are).
As I’ve said before, Zane makes my job easy, and he’s become a great little helper around the house—especially if financial compensation is involved. He’s always up for an adventure, loves his cats and playing mini-golf, and enjoys collecting anything and everything (rocks, antique milk bottles, handmade ceramics . . .). He talks to his friends on the phone for hours, and will still converse with grown-ups if they engage him first.
He has definitely become a little quieter over the past year, which makes sense—the growing edge really turns inward during the teen years. Zane is just starting to think about what the adult version of him will do, and what dreams he will want to pursue. Thankfully, (for his mother, at least) he still has plenty of time left to figure all that out.
We have visited Lubec, Maine almost every summer since 2009. It’s a long drive from our home in Walpole, New Hampshire, but well worth it. Lubec has a little bit of everything we love: The drama of Maine’s bold coast, ancient peat bogs and drowned forests that hint at a glacial past, coastal woodlands draped in strange mosses, powerful whirlpools and some of the world’s most extreme tides . . . it’s truly a world of its own.
My husband’s parents have a cottage in Lubec now, so we are able to visit whenever we feel up to making the drive, and we thought it would be fun to see the area in the fall. Although it wasn’t quite peak foliage yet on the coast, we still got to enjoy the beautiful colors of the season—from the cheerful lavender of woodland asters to the ferns glazed in autumn’s rusty hues. Plus, there is an amazing sunrise and sunset pretty much every day!
Last summer a collection of fifteen privately-owned nature parks and trails called Cobscook Shores opened to the public in Lubec and the surrounding area, and we were finally able to visit a few of them this past week. With its meticulously maintained trails, post-and-beam pavilions, and miles of shoreline to explore, Cobscook Shores is an incredibly valuable addition to the rich tapestry of state parks and conservation lands already present in the area.
The highlight of our trip was hiking out to Cobscook Shores’ Red Point Island during low tide. Because it was nearing the end of the season, we were the only hikers out there. For the first time in our lives we had a whole island to ourselves!
We also spent some time in town visiting the Lubec Brewing Company and Mowry Beach. And, of course, we had to hop over to Eastport to stock up at Raye’s Mustard. While we were there we visited Shackford State Park and took in an amazing view of Lubec from the other side of the bay. We can’t wait to go back in the spring!
