8 years

 Do you ever feel like you say "oh this was a hard year," every year?  And it's always a little true in slightly alternating ways and side-stepping reasons...  There's no need to describe 2020 as hard.  Everyone knows.  Everyone is dealing with it, albeit some more than others.  No one has had a free pass and skated by elevated above the pandemic.

Honestly I have been more preoccupied by the encroaching one-year anniversary of the world shutting down than I have been with Naomi's birthday.  2019 was the year my husband and I were geographically distant from each other more than any other year, by far.  2020 was the year we were together the most (even in the same building!), by far.  We are grateful that we didn't suffer any financial ramifications to the pandemic and that we were already settled into a big house.  It still felt loud and small at times.  We now own multiple headsets and headphones and I even bought in-ear hearing devices designed to decrease sound stressors.

My sister and niece were able to come up for a visit and snowboarding this week.  She was here for Naomi's birth and it was nice to have her again for a birthday.  We all went to the cemetery today, and my niece (four years old) was really upset that she couldn't see Naomi to say hi to her.  The weather was yucky and wet, although thankfully not super cold.

The youngest is fond of pink.

Fully hitting teenage years here...

Eight white roses left for Naomi.

Unfortunately the marker from last year couldn't be found...  I realized the snow was close to a heart shape and shaped it up a bit more.

A few years ago we included a stop for pizza at La Festa.  We are not eating inside restaurants right now, but getting some pizza to take home was something familiar and "normal" to do, so we did.  They have great cannoli so I got one per person.  The two big kids passed, and the two young ones just picked off all the chocolate chips on theirs.  So all the adults get to have a second cannoli tomorrow.

Cannoli for dessert.